


A Midnight Hour Comes

by alexcat



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Afghanistan, Both men are clueless, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, Madame Masque|Giulietta Nefaria|Whitney Frost from 616, Missions, Non-Graphic Violence, Stark Tower, Tony Stark needs love, non-graphic medical torture, steve rogers needs love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:54:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21564883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexcat/pseuds/alexcat
Summary: After a routine Avengers mission, Tony disappears.  No one knows where he is and there is no ransom demand.  Steve is determined to find his friend. Tony's past has come back to haunt him in a dangerous way as an old lover decides to make him pay for her pain. Throw in lots of feelings and lots of danger and intrigue.And the fact that Steve and Tony both have burgeoning feelings that they don't quite know how to handle.
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark (past), Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Tony Stark/Whitney Frost (past)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 72
Collections: 2019 Captain America/Iron Man Big Bang





	A Midnight Hour Comes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tishawish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tishawish/gifts), [BeenAsleepFor70Years](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeenAsleepFor70Years/gifts).



> My two collaborators are wonderful artists and they made the story come to life beautifully.  
> [ **tishawish**](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tishawish/profile)|[ **Art on Ao3**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21563536)  
>  and  
> [ **BeenAsleepFor70Years**](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeenAsleepFor70Years/profile)|[ **Art on Ao3**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21565285)
> 
> Give them some love for their wonderful work!!!
> 
> ***If you are going to gig me for making this Steve/Tony and not Pepper/Tony, please move along. Any comments you make will be deleted.***

A Midnight Hour Comes 

_“Don't you know that a midnight hour comes when everyone has to take off his mask? Do you think life always lets itself be trifled with? Do you think you can sneak off a little before midnight to escape this?”_  
― Søren Kierkegaard

*

_Tony Stark woke up._

_Or maybe he didn’t._

_He couldn’t be sure. He opened his eyes and there was nothing. No light, no nothing, complete darkness. He tried to move and again, there was nothing. He couldn’t feel his arms, legs, anything._

_He closed his eyes and listened for his heart. That he could feel but it felt distant, like it was in another body._

_He tried to speak but nothing came out. His mouth wouldn’t move._

_Could he breathe?_

_Oh god, he was going to suffocate._

_Or had he already?_

_Was he dead?_

_Mercifully, he lost consciousness again._

* *

_1 Day Before_

The day began like any other. Everyone arrived in the communal kitchen in Stark Tower about 8 am, more or less, everyone but Stark. Sometimes he slept part of the day away, having been up all night in his workshop, figuring or welding or some combination that resulted in amazing technology, both great and small. It seemed he ran on coffee and nerves most of the time. 

Natasha was manning the stove, making a huge pan of scrambled eggs. Steve was making coffee in the Nespresso to order for anyone who wandered in and asked. Clint was frying up sausages and bacon. Bruce was cutting up mangos, strawberries, and bananas into a large bowl. Thor was toasting a whole box of strawberry Pop Tarts, two at a time. They were all for him as he didn’t share his Pop Tarts. He hadn’t ever gotten enough of them yet. 

“So what did everyone do last night?” Natasha asked with a grin. 

“I washed my hair,” Clint shot back, quick as lightning. 

Bruce looked up for a moment then back to his fruit. “I did my nails,” he said, following Barton’s lead.

Steve even joined in. “I looked at my butt in the mirror, trying to decide if my suit makes me look fat.” 

Everyone howled with laughter. Steve had not made jokes at first, still unsure of them and unsure of his outdated sense of humor. That he cracked one now and again was a sure sign that he was beginning to fit into their group and into the modern world.

Thor mumbled something about silly humans as he popped the last of his Pop Tarts onto a plate, but his shoulders were shaking with laughter as well. 

“What did you do, Nat?” Barton asked.

“I sharpened my knives and oiled my guns.” 

“Show-off!” Clint said with a nudge on her shoulder as he stood beside her at the stove. 

Everyone’s cell phones pinged at once. They all looked to see what was going on. 

“Suit up, guys,” Steve told them. “Meet me at the Quinjet in ten.” 

He turned the coffee maker off as the others turned off their appliances and everyone left the room. Bruce checked everything before he headed to the jet to make sure all was well. He didn’t exactly have a suit to dress in, just some pants that would stretch to accommodate the Other Guy, so he had a few extra seconds. 

They were all on the plane and airborne in eleven minutes. Iron Man would fly himself. He usually did. He was, as they all knew, a showoff. 

There was a disturbance at a nuclear power plant near Charlottesville in Virginia. That was all the information they got in the initial call. 

“What’s going on, Cap?” Clint asked as they lifted off the ground. 

“You know what I do. Fury was very sparse with details.” 

Tony’s voice came in over their coms. “There’s some kind of incursion, but no one knows if it’s terrorism or something else. It’s big, whatever it is.”

As they came closer, they saw the mess. The area around the damn and power plant was burning. In the center was something, what no one knew yet. It was almost like a large void around which whirled mayhem. It looked a little like a tornado of black smoke. 

“Water?” Steve asked. “Maybe treat it like a fire?” 

“I’ll swing closer and see if I can find a way to divert some of the water from the power plant. It’s not too close to the reactor yet,” Tony spoke over coms. “We’ll see if that works.”

They landed and hit the ground running. When they got closer to ground zero, they saw that it seemed to be coming from a hole in the ground. It still seemed to be attached to the hole. 

“What the hell?” Natasha’s voice came over the com. 

“Still no idea what to do,” Clint said. “Not sure how to shoot arrows at smoke.”

“Bruce?” Steve asked over the com. 

“Here?” 

“You want to come out?” 

“Um, not really. The other guy and a nuclear power plant together – not a good idea.” Bruce was watching the smoke swirl around and around.

Tony spoke. “I think if I can turn on the hydrant, then maybe Cap’s shield can deflect the water onto the smoke. If we can drive it into the ground, maybe I can close it over it.” 

“Then what?” Bruce asked. 

“We go after it,” Cap answered. “Away from here, as far from the nuclear stuff as we can.” 

Thor, Natasha and Clint manned water cannons. Whatever it was, it made a huge roar as it shrank back into the hole it had come out of. It looked to be a manhole of some sort. As soon as the water hit it, it began to draw in on itself. The black smoke swirled in a smaller and smaller funnel until it disappeared into the hole. 

Steve immediately jumped in the hole, followed by the other three. Tony had JARVIS bring up the schematics and he knew where the next exit point was. The tunnels were water tunnels built when the power plant was originally opened. 

“Coming your way,” Steve called to Tony. 

“Ready!” Tony called back. He removed a manhole cover outside the plant area and waited for the ‘smoke demon,’ as Clint called it. 

It roared out of the hole and Stark hit it with all he had, energy bolts, pulse weapons, lasers. It grew out of the hole to a bigger size than it was when they’d forced it into the ground inside the power plant compound. 

“We need more water, Stark!” Natasha yelled. “It appears to like your energy weapons.”

They agreed that Thor’s lightning would be a bad idea around an energy eating monster. 

“Maybe we can drive it to the lake,” Tony told them. 

There was a sizable lake made by the dam at the power plant. The water tunnels had originally been used to haul water into the plant from the lake for cooling. Later they had been replaced with more modern and safer tunnels but these old ones still seemed capable of being flooded, if they could find the valves and those valves weren’t too old or rusty to open. 

They called the firetrucks belonging the power plant and the ones of several nearby towns and cities to help drive the thing back into the tunnel. Most of them were there already because of the fire. It had been contained and was no longer a threat to the plant or surrounding area. Tony was going to open the valve and flood the tunnel completely, hopefully destroying the thing since it seemed sensitive to water. 

This all took some time and the smoke creature continued to grow but at a slower rate once Tony stopped feeding it energy. He hovered near it while everything was readied for their assault on the monster. 

Once they had it in the tunnels, they’d seal off the openings and turn on the valve. The tunnels had long ago been sealed off from the plant itself so there was little to no danger there anymore, but they all had a suspicion that it was here to draw nuclear power and grow bigger. They needed to stop that at all costs. 

Fifteen fire trucks had circled the dervish. It was picking up rubble and dust as it swirled now. It looked like a solid black tornado. There was the roar of the winds within it and as well as roar that seemed almost like a living being calling to them from inside it. 

Stark went to the dam. Law enforcement had covered the other openings with whatever heavy they could find and move – concrete blocks, trucks, dirt, anything. Cap was coordinating everything, along with Bruce in the plane and Natasha and Clint on the ground. 

On Steve’s say-so, the first trucks all turned their hoses on the monster. It wailed louder for several frightening seconds before it began to shrink slowly. There were more trucks and water wagons standing by to come in if the first line emptied. One by one they did and the replacements moved in. It began to shrink into the hole at a faster rate. 

Finally Captain America and Thor slapped the cover over the hole and Bruce showed up green and angry to move a huge rock on top of the hole. 

“Now, Stark!” Cap shouted into the com as Bruce stood screaming and scaring the hell out of the firemen and everyone else involved. He bounced around for a few moments and bounded away into the woods. They all might have worried if they’d had much time to think about it, but they were all holding their breath, hoping that the Avengers plan would work. They had no backup plan if it didn’t. 

But then the Avengers didn’t usually have a backup plan. 

Stark opened the huge water valve at the lake. Water rushed into the tunnels. They knew they were full when it began seeping out all of the manholes. Tony stopped the flood before the water pressure blew the caps off. They didn’t want to free the thing again. 

They were a few vibrations and sounds under the ground, but nothing too violent. 

They all waited, barely breathing, to see if their plan worked.

There was no sound, no anything. They didn’t know where the thing went, but from all scans of the area, it did seem to be gone. 

After an hour of waiting with nothing happening, Cap told the firemen that they were good to go and the place cleared out rather quickly. That left the security personnel from the power plant and the Avengers. 

After another hour with no movement of any kind, Stark told Cap to head on back to home base and he’d come back later. He wanted to fly around and have some scans done of seismic activity and such around the site for any signs of the thing. 

By the time they got ready to go, Bruce was waiting at the plane. He was himself again and dressed in the clothes he kept in the plane for just such circumstances. 

“See you back at the barn,” Steve told Tony over the com. 

“Don’t call my state of the art tower a barn, Rogers,” Tony said with a laugh. “Be there in a jiffy. Is that still a word? Rhodes used to say that.” 

They disappeared in the daylight sky. 

*

Stark had not returned to Avengers Tower by midnight. 

No one had paid much attention. Sometimes he came directly to his workshop from his rooftop landing pad, and no one saw him for the rest of the day. Sometimes he’d simply fly away on what Steve liked to think of as joy rides. 

Steve was the only one who might have noticed that Tony wasn’t there, but he was busy filling out reports. Fury had them fill out report and after report every time they went on a mission. Steve was the only one used to actually doing paper reports. Doing this actually allowed him to put everything in order in his mind as well as on paper.

His phone rang. It was Pepper Potts.

“Steve, have you seen Tony? He was supposed to come by my office and sign some papers for the Maria Stark Foundation. He didn’t show. I know you had a mission, because I saw the story about an emergency at a nuclear power plant.”

“I haven’t talked to him. I assumed he was in his workshop. He didn’t fly with us… he went in the suit.” 

“Of course he did,” Pepper answered. “If you talk to him, tell him to call me.”

Once they hung up, Steve asked JARVIS, “Where is Stark?” 

“Captain Rogers, his suit is not activated and I cannot find him on my sensors. He does not appear to be New York City.” 

“Is that normal?” Steve was fairly sure that JARVIS almost always knew where Tony was.

“No sir. He does turn it off for privacy on occasion.”

Steve sent a text out to all the Avengers. _’Seen Stark?’_

All of the answers were no. He asked them all to come to his office. They were all there in a few minutes. 

“Do we call Agent Hill yet?” Banner asked.

Steve ran a hand through his hair, something he did when he didn’t know an answer. “I don’t know. But Miss Potts doesn’t know where he is and neither does JARVIS. That’s kind of a red flag for me.”

“I thought JARVIS always knew where we all were,” Natasha said. 

“Call Hill. If she can’t find him, he’s left the planet,” Barton said. 

Steve rang Maria Hill. 

“Have you talked to Stark since Charlottesville?” Steve asked. He had her on video phone. 

“He sent the last coordinates for the smoke demon and that’s it. What’s up?” 

“Miss Potts said he didn’t show up to sign some papers today. He isn’t here and JARVIS says he can’t locate him.”

“I’ll get back to you.” And she was gone

*

The ‘smoke demon’ was not gone. It was also not exactly real. It was a machine made vortex that had been altered to look like it was black smoke. It did suck up dirt and other debris around it as well, but it was mostly for effect. 

The machine had been turned off and vortex was gone. Its objectives had been reached. They had disrupted the working of a small nuclear power plant as a dry run for something larger perhaps, they’d seen the Avengers at work and they had acquired the object they were tasked with finding. 

The Boss would be pleased. 

*

_Tony woke again. Nothing had changed. Maybe he’d had an accident and was in some secret government hospital facility. Maybe he was paralyzed and blind now. Maybe he was a vegetable._

_That didn’t seem right. He remembered finishing with the smoke thing and wondering where it would turn up next since all they’d really done was drive it into a hole. He’d headed home. Or had he?_

_He remembered thinking about what he wanted to do when he got home, about getting showered and working on a glitch he’d noticed in one of the sensors in his suit. He had no memory after that._

_He tried to move, but his body didn’t obey his brain. His heart started pounding again._

_Wherever he was, he was in deep trouble._

*

Maria Hill had sort of blown Steve Rogers off when he called, but she was trying to track Stark down, too, and was having no luck. She had been much more alarmed than she’d let on. There was no trace of Stark anywhere. That was actually saying quite a lot. Though Stark prided himself on his technical skills and his best of the best technology, he seemed quite oblivious to the fact that he was tracked all the time. SHIELD knew every move he made, even some that JARVIS hadn’t tracked and there was simply no trace of Stark or his suit after he left Charlottesville. 

As a matter of fact, there was no trace of him leaving Charlottesville. 

Hill called Fury and told him what was going on. 

“He’s probably on a bender,” Fury replied, dismissing her worries. Or at least seeming to. 

“Sir, you know that he hasn’t done that in a very long time, not since he and Miss Potts became an item.” 

Fury grunted. He was more concerned than he’d ever let on. 

“I’ll keep looking, sir.”

“Try not to tell Rogers or the others anything.”

Hill sighed. Steve Rogers was persistent and he’d know if she was covering anything up. She wasn’t sure what her ‘tell’ was, but Rogers seemed to know it. Well, right now, there was nothing to cover so she was safe. 

She began to check all the satellite and camera feeds for the area around the power plant again for anything. Anything at all. She also tracked phone chatter around the nearest cell tower with no results. She accessed data showing the power station’s levels of electricity and then she noticed it. 

There was a tiny – what? Ding, glitch? The electricity had almost fluttered for a fraction of a second after the Quinjet had left the area. What could it mean? 

She called Fury again. 

*

The Boss was monitoring all Stark’s vital signs and listening to him breathe, such as it were. He was in a near state of suspended animation. Machines were breathing for him and he was completely immobilized. 

The Boss was pleased and had no intentions of changing anything for a while yet. Let him suffer a little. He had caused enough suffering that some payback was needed. 

*

“What do you mean, he’s gone?” Pepper asked Steve.

“No one has seen him.”

“Five years ago, I’d say he was holed up somewhere with a young woman of questionable age, but Tony hasn’t done that in a long time. It’s not like him not to check in with JARVIS, even if not with me.”

“What can I say? We last saw him in Charlottesville.”

“Is anyone looking for him?” Pepper looked more angry than concerned. Maybe she thought they were keeping something from her. 

“Us, Fury, Hill. I called Rhodes, too, and he’s checking out what he can through military channels. We don’t want to raise public alarms yet.”

“Why not? Maybe someone has seen him.” 

Steve looked away, then back at her. “We can’t afford a panic or to cause someone to attack a vulnerable target because we are missing Iron Man.” 

She held up her hands. “All right. I believe you. Will you at least keep me updated?” 

“Of course I will. Let us know if you hear anything. Or if you think of anything or notice anything strange.” 

She nodded and left. 

“She’s awfully possessive of Stark,” Natasha said as she came up behind Steve. “But then she always has been.”

“She’s his girlfriend. Why wouldn’t she be?” Steve asked. He didn’t add that he’d always felt uncomfortable around Stark and Miss Potts. He also didn’t mention that he wasn’t really sure why he felt that way. 

Suddenly he looked felt like a scared kid. “We have to find him, Natasha. I know there’s something wrong.”

She nodded. “I know it, too. He might run off as Stark, but Iron Man wouldn’t leave us high and dry like this.” 

“I have no idea where else to look.” 

“Maybe have JARVIS look for any anomalies in the energy the arc reactor gives off? I’m sure he already is tracking that though.” 

“I’ll talk to Fury If Hill will let me. He might be more likely to help and he might have more of an idea who else might be an enemy,” Steve said, as he searched his phone for Fury’s number. 

Natasha nodded at him and headed to the gym to spar with Barton. 

Fury barked into his ear. “Yeah?”

“Director Fury, I’m sure Agent Hill has apprised you of the situation -” 

Fury interrupted Steve. “Are we even sure it _is_ a situation? Are you sure he didn’t wander off to do some mysterious and stupid Stark thing?” 

“Sir, JARVIS doesn’t know where he is.”

“JARVIS will lie to our asses if Stark tells him to.” 

“Miss Potts hasn’t heard from him either.” 

“That could just mean that he’s doing something he doesn’t want her to know about.”

“He was mopping up and told us to leave. We did. None of us have seen him since.” 

“Tell me about this ‘smoke demon’ you fought. There’s something - odd about it.”

“I agree. We didn’t destroy it either. We simply drove it into a hole.”

“Has anyone taken credit for it?” Fury’s tone said he had a lot of doubts about the smoke monster. 

“Not yet. We got the call and went since it was near a nuclear power plant.”

“I’ll look into reports from the whole east coast, see what I can find. If he’s off greasing his pole, I’m going to kill his smart ass for it. Let me know if you get anything, Captain Rogers.” 

Steve rang off and headed to Tony’s workshop on the R&D floor. Maybe he’d find a clue. 

*

Tony was being held in a state of the art facility in an old warehouse. The area he was detained in was actually under the warehouse in a subbasement that had been added to hide people and goods from prying eyes and from any raids by the police. He was being monitored at all times and if he became too agitated, they simply upped the dose of tranquilizer and rendered him unconscious again.

The Boss said that no one should enter the room while he was awake. They were to have no contact with him at all. He was to be kept completely isolated unless he was asleep. Everyone was careful to follow the Boss’ orders. 

Always. 

*

_Sometime in the mid-1990s_

When Tony Stark was a young graduate of MIT, his parents died in a car crash and at twenty-one, he inherited the mantel of CEO of Stark industries. This was heady stuff for a young man just out of his teens, especially one as brilliant as Stark. 

He was the head of a company that made more military weaponry and tech than any other company on the planet. He attracted a lot of attention, much of it was simply from people who sought to capitalize on his wealth. 

But not all. 

Tony met Whitney Frost at a party in New York. 

He kept noticing a black haired girl in a pale Greek goddess style dress looking at him. She was gorgeous, he thought, and this party was getting pretty boring. There were too many older people here, but it was a fundraiser for some – thing or another. He couldn’t remember what. He was more interested in the drugs, alcohol, and girls than what cause he was supporting. That was the only reason he showed up most of the time. 

He had one of his assistants with him that evening. He nudged her. “Find out who that girl is and get me introduced to her.”

A few minutes later, he was chatting up Whitney Frost, daughter of wealthy Byron Frost, a wealthy Wall Street financier. She was spending some time in New York before marrying her fiancé, Roger Vane, an up and coming young lawyer with political aspirations. 

“Miss Frost, I understand you’re engaged. Is your fiancé here with you?” Tony asked her as he grabbed a couple of glasses of champagne from a passing waiter and handed one to her.

“God, no. Roger is toiling away, working on his plan for becoming president someday. I keep telling him he should be out meeting people who could help him, but he is a bit stodgy sometimes.” She smiled at him over the rim of her glass as she sipped.

Tony had met Roger Vane and considered him more than stodgy. He was in his early thirties and all he really cared about, according to what Tony had seen, was politics. He couldn’t imagine that Miss Frost had much in common with Vane, except the fact that she’d make a great asset to any campaign with her wealthy father and her connections. 

“I’m not the least bit stodgy!” he bragged as they chatted. 

“I hear you’re one of the youngest men to graduate from MIT and that you’re also the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company. What do you do for fun?” she asked, with a definite challenge in her question. She’d heard the stories about Stark and his excesses.

“Anything I want, Miss Frost.” 

“Please call me Whitney. Maybe we could step out onto the balcony? Enjoy the night air?” she asked. 

Tony was all too ready to follow the beautiful young woman. 

As soon as they were outdoors, Whitney lit a joint from her purse and passed it to Tony.

“This is much better. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it,” Tony said as he took a draw and held the smoke in. 

“I can think of a lot more fun things that being here,” Whitney said. 

“I came in my limo. Want to go clubbing?”

“Sure. Let me make my excuses. Since I’m engaged, we probably shouldn’t be seen leaving together.”

An hour later, the two of them were dancing the evening away at an underground club that allowed anonymity, if that’s what one wanted. Tony was looking forward to getting her out of that dress. She had been great fun so far, and she seemed to love breaking the rules. He hoped her little streak of defiance made her fun naked as well.

“I think you’d better drop me off at my hotel, Tony,” she told him when they left the club. 

“I was hoping to take this back to my place.” He leaned close and kissed her neck. She shivered quite deliciously. He put a hand on the bodice of her dress, feeling her nipple through the thin cloth. 

“Next time, Tony. I promise. Roger will call tonight and I need to be there.” 

He reluctantly dropped her off and went back to his mansion alone. It was a rare night that Tony spent alone. He did have his favorite Scotch to keep him company.

The next morning, he decided to find her. She was too special to let her slip away like that.

“JARVIS, track down Whitney Frost for me.”

“Sir, Miss Frost is staying in a family apartment in Manhattan. She appears to be in. Shall I call her?” 

“She gave me her number somewhere,” he picked up this suit from last night and began rifling through the pockets. 

“I have the number, sir. Shall I dial and ask for her for you?” 

“Yeah,” Tony answered, then immediately said, “No, I’ll look like a fool. Yes, do call her.” 

JARVIS had already dialed her and asked for her. Tony picked up his phone. “Hello. Miss Frost, this is Tony Stark.” 

She didn’t say anything for a moment. 

“From last night,” he added, hoping he didn’t sound as lame as he felt. 

“I remember. How are you, Mr. Stark?” She sounded very stiff and formal. 

“Is your fiancé there?” he asked. 

“Yes, I’d be glad to donate to your charity.”

“I can have someone pick you up in a limo.” 

“That would work for me.”

“Two o’clock. Near the MOMA? Right in front?” 

“I’d be glad to. Goodbye and thank you for calling.”

Tony got hard just thinking about meeting her. He hadn’t acted quite this crazy about a woman since his first one. 

She was waiting for him in front of the MOMA. The limo stopped and the driver got out and opened the door for her. 

She kissed Tony on the cheek as she got in. “Hi. You’re lucky Roger didn’t answer the phone.” 

Tony poured her a glass of champagne, which she took with a smile. “So what do you have planned for us, Mr. Stark?” 

“I was thinking about pulling your skirt up and seeing what you taste like.” 

“You are a naughty man. You have to kiss me and buy me lunch before I drop my panties for you.” 

He leaned close and kissed her then and there. She put her arms around him and pulled him close. When they paused, she grinned at him and said, “Maybe we can eat after you taste me.” 

Tony was all too happy to oblige her.

*

_The present day_

Steve found nothing out of order in the workshop and Bruce helped him look around. 

“We should be able to find him, Steve,” he said. “The equipment here tracks all of us all the time.” 

Steve’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious?” 

“Sure. We don’t use it to intrude. We use it for safety. To help when something like this happens. That’s why I don’t understand why we can’t locate Tony.”

“So we’re being watched by Stark and SHIELD both?” 

Bruce shrugged. “I suppose so.”

“There’s nothing here, Bruce.” 

“Let’s see if we can find the footage from the attack and the aftermath, after we left.”

Bruce brought up some of the same footage that Maria Hill had been looking at.

“There’s something off about that monster, Bruce. Can you see it?” 

“Yeah, it looks like special effects.” They kept looking and came to the same ‘glitch’ that Maria found in the power grid after their jet took off. This was the exact same time on the camera feed as her glitch was. 

“I’ll be damned. It’s very small but it’s a loop of some kind, like they replayed a split second of time,” Steve told Banner. 

“I see it. I just don’t know how it could be done.” 

“Play it again,” Steve said. 

Just as they took off, the area looked the same, exactly the same for what had to have been a fraction of a second. “Someone or something has altered this feed,” Bruce agreed. 

“I’m calling Hill,” Steve said. 

“Are we sure we can trust her?” Bruce asked him. 

“As much as we can trust anyone.”

“Make the call then.”

*

Maria Hill knew as soon as she answered the phone that Steve had found what she had. 

“I found a glitch in the power grid at the same time. I don’t know what it means,” she told him. “But I think that someone took him somehow in those split seconds on that video feed. The real question is, who would want Stark?” 

“You don’t do the things he’s done without making a few enemies,” Steve said. “A lot of enemies, I’m thinking.”

“But which one?”

“I guess we do some research.” 

“Call Jim Rhodes. He’s known Tony since MIT. He’d know more than anyone else would.” 

“Hill, if you find out anything – anything at all, call me.” 

“Fury and I expect the same courtesy.” 

“I can do that.”

“Good luck, Captain Rogers.” She rang off. She sometimes thought the Avengers was the worst idea ever, but she had to admit that Stark and the Avengers were handy to have around when bad things happened. 

*

Rhodey flew to Avengers Tower to talk to Steve and Bruce. He was in DC anyway, so he didn’t have far to travel.

“Do you have any idea what he was like back in the day?” Rhodes asked. “This boy slept with every person he met who would screw him, men, women, wives, husbands and he sold weapons to anyone who’d pay enough for them. He pissed off friends as much as he did enemies. This could take all night.” 

“No time like the present to start making the list then,” Steve said as they sat down with Steve’s notepad and Bruce’s tablet. 

They began with his known enemies, but realized quickly that most of them were dead, or at least out of commission: Obadiah Stone and Justin Hammer, just to name a few. 

“Okay. So we can table the enemies list for a bit and concentrate on jilted lovers and friends,” Banner said. 

They talked long into the night, getting sidetracked occasionally by stories Rhodes told of their younger days, of their friendship. That he was fond of Tony was obvious in his face as he talked. 

“Guys, we gotta find him. He’s family to me and to some of you, too, I’d bet,” Rhodes finally said sometime in the wee hours of the morning. 

Natasha swept in. “You all need to get a few hours of sleep. Go to bed. Now.” She made it clear that she was not having anyone disobey as she popped Steve on the head with a folder when he started to argue. 

To a man, they obeyed her.

Rhodes would take an early plane back to DC.

*

Steve couldn’t sleep. He wondered where Tony was, wondered if he’d been hurt. It wasn’t until he began playing old conversations they’d had over and over in his mind that he realized that something strange was happening to him. 

The things he remembered were not so much words, but the touches, the hand on the shoulder, the handshake and even a manly hug or two. He’d never felt this way about anyone else but Bucky. And he wasn’t sure this was quite the same. 

He needed to find Tony, to touch Tony, to make sure that he was safe. 

He couldn’t quite process anything more tonight, so he let those feelings go by without acknowledgement. 

He got up rather than waste the time tossing and turning. He went to Stark's suite. 

“May I go in, JARVIS?” he asked at the door. 

“You are authorized, Captain Rogers.” 

He was more than a little surprised at that, but he opened the door and walked in. The suite was huge. He looked around and saw a miniature version of Tony’s workspace here. That would be where he spent his time. Perhaps he also spent time in the bedroom with Miss Potts, but for some reason, Steve didn’t want to think about that right now. 

He touched the tools, picked up the half empty coffee cup, sitting haphazardly on a stool. He took it over to the long leather sofa against the wall. It looked well worn, like it had traveled to more than one home. 

He sat down and picked up a throw pillow, a silly round pillow with an Iron Man face. When he brought it to his face, he smelled Tony’s expensive cologne on it. He smelled something else, something that was simply Tony, too. He lay down on the sofa and put his head on the red pillow and, in a few moments, he was asleep. 

It was daylight when he woke to Natasha staring down at him. 

“Oh honey, we’ve got to get Stark back.” She sat down beside him as he sat up. She handed him a cup of coffee. “Maria called. She said you weren’t answering your phone. JARVIS said you were in here.”

At the mention of Hill, he was suddenly alert. “What did Hill want?” 

“She said our photo glitch and her power grid glitch did occur at the same time, and they are certain it’s some sort of sabotage, but not quite sure of the purpose yet.” 

“Unless it was to cover up taking Stark,” Steve said as she nodded. 

“Yep, that was the last thing she said. Come on. Let’s go find you some breakfast.”

“I’ll meet you in the kitchen. Gotta pee.” 

She grinned at him and was gone. He arrived in the kitchen in a few minutes, wearing jeans and a t-shirt. He’d been in his boxers on Tony’s sofa. He’d worked on his hair but it stuck up in front, making him look a little like a boy with a cowlick. 

“Want some eggs?” Barton asked. “I make a nice omelet or maybe some scrambled eggs with cheese in them? We have some sausage, bacon and some of the turkey variety of both for those of us who are not supersoldiers.” 

He was hungry, he realized. “Bacon and eggs with some cheese would be great.”

“There are some biscuits in that basket and Bruce is making toast if you prefer,” Clint said as if he’d cooked for them all his life. 

“Where’s Thor?” Steve looked around for the Pop Tart loving god. 

“He said something about Jane and was gone in a flash,” Bruce said. 

After Clint handed him a plate of bacon and eggs, Steve got biscuits and found some blackberry jam in the fridge. He ate until he was full, not even noticing when the rest of them were done and began to stare at him. 

“What?” he asked, blushing.

“We just like watching you eat, Steve,” Natasha told him. “It brings a little normalcy to what is not the least bit normal.”

*

_Tony woke suddenly to what he thought was a sound. It wasn’t, but it was a vibration. Perhaps wherever he was being held was under something. A highway? A railroad track?_

_He’d been left alert for longer these last few hours, days? He knew he was alive and he knew he was drugged, but that was all he could really tell. He couldn’t see anything to see if he had IVs for fluid and drugs. He also could feel very little so he was sure that he’d also been given a drug to render him unable to move._

_He wondered who had done this._

_He had so many enemies that he didn’t even bother to wonder why. In his forty-something years on the planet, he had garnered a list of people who wished him harm longer than his arm, many of them people he’d never seen or heard of. That was the scary part._

_The room inexplicably lit up for a second so short that he almost missed it, then went dark again._

_A voice, heavily synthesized, spoke. “Hello, Mr. Stark. We are pleased to have you here with us. I am sure you feel the same.”_

_He tried to move, to speak, but it was no use. He felt his heartrate increase._

_“If you behave, we will speak with you again soon, Mr. Stark.”_

_And it was gone._

*

 _The mid 1990s_

Despite having plans to meet up before she had to return home, Whitney Frost did not show up for their last planned assignation. Tony adored her. They’d had sex any and everywhere they’d been. He couldn’t get enough of her. She had no boundaries and if he could think of it, she’d do it. Tony could think of a lot of things to do. 

They were supposed to meet at a small gallery in SOHO, where a friend of hers was showing some art for the first time. Tony even planned on buying a piece just to support Whitney’s friend. 

He walked around, looking at the odd works of her friend. They mostly consisted of ceramic tiles of differing colors arranged in random looking configurations. Not really compelling but they’d be all right in one of his office lobbies. 

He spotted the artist, a tiny blond in layers of colorful ruffles and bizarre patterns that spoke of vintage 60s hippie wear. Her name was China Black, a made up name, no doubt but it suited her. 

“Miss Black. I was supposed to meet Whitney here. Have you seen her?”

The little woman looked him up and down. “You must be the one she’s been screwing around with. I understand now. Roger is as interesting as dryer lint.”

He tried not to smile at her words, but he’d had the same thought about poor Roger. He’d even asked Whitney about that one night as she used a dildo on him. She’d just laughed and smacked his ass. 

“That would be me.” 

“She was supposed to be here and I haven’t heard from her. Roger, no doubt, had something important for her to do and she dropped everything and ran.”

Tony had no plans for the rest of the day, so he hung around, buying a couple of China’s pieces and waiting for her to get done with her showing.

“Thanks, Mr. Stark, for buying some of my work. I hope you don’t think it entitles you to anything more.” 

He shrugged. He was hoping for more, but he always hoped for more. 

“Can I take you to dinner?” 

She smiled. “I never turn down a free meal.”

He let her choose and they ate a little bistro close to the gallery. It was cheap and had good food. 

“How do you know Whitney?” he asked her. 

“We worked in the same office for a while.” 

“But isn’t she wealthy?” 

“She is, but she moved here and made her own way after she got out of college.” 

After they’d eaten, Tony asked her, “Can I drop you somewhere?” 

“Isn’t this where you’re supposed to try to get in my panties?” 

He laughed. “Not unless you want me to.” 

“Kiss me in the limo and we’ll see.”

He did and she wanted him to. They went to her apartment. Tony did not often turn down freely given sex, especially from people who had no reason to want anything else from him.

It wasn’t until he saw the society page the next day that he really began to wonder what happened to Whitney. The headline said ROGER VALE CALLS IT QUITS WITH FROST PRINCESS.

He wondered if Vale found out about them. The man was a fool to let such a spitfire get away. He doubted Vale could keep her satisfied, but he was pretty sure she was more than enough for Vale. After the new wore off, the story faded from the news and Tony still had no answers and had heard nothing more from Whitney. 

*  
_The present day_

There had been no ransom demands for Stark, no threats, no anything, 

Just silence. 

Steve decided he needed to find out more about Tony’s past. He didn’t seem to lack for enemies and Steve was sure that one of those enemies might be the answer they were looking for. 

“JARVIS, find me news articles about Tony Stark and anyone.”

“Yes, Captain Rogers. I will transfer them to your desktop in your quarters.” 

Steve looked up at the speaker where the voice came from. “Thanks.” A part of him knew that JARVIS wasn’t there, but a part of him needed to feel like JARVIS was a person. 

He began to read.

Tony had appeared with too many starlets and actresses to count over the years. He’d also had affinity for heiresses and wealthy young women. As he scrolled, it became apparent that Stark also really enjoyed other men’s wives. And now and again, women’s husbands. There was a grainy photo of him and a man old enough to be his father kissing. The picture has been taken from very far away, but it was quite apparent that the kiss was more than friendliness. The older man’s hands were cupping Tony’s ass. 

Steve closed the browser as if he’d been burned by it. This was getting him nowhere. He tried to ignore the urge to look at the last photo one more time. He opened the file again and looked at it several minutes before going on. 

He went on to business associates and enemies. There were as many of those as there were romantic entanglements. Tony’s decision to stop making weapons after his imprisonment in Afghanistan made a lot of people mad. Many of them were already dead, like Obadiah Stane, but there were enough of them left to make a real threat, too, including the US government itself. 

Steve sighed. 

Without more information than they had right now, he didn’t know how they were going to find Tony. Maybe Bruce could use an algorithm to figure out something. 

Tony had pissed off hundreds of people, maybe more. He hadn’t even looked into employees yet at all. 

Maybe he needed to talk to Pepper again about that. Happy Hogan might have some answers, too. Someone had to know something, dammit! 

They needed Stark back.

*

_The late 1990s_

It was actually several years before Tony saw Whitney Frost again. She showed up at his office one day, near five o’clock. When the girl at the desk called back, he had her sent right in. He couldn’t imagine why she’d show up after the way she disappeared. 

Whitney was as beautiful as ever with her black hair and dark eyes. Her eyes were a little colder than they’d been before, but he chalked it up to the passage of time. 

Later, he was embarrassed but they had actually fallen into one another’s arms and had sex before they talked other than to say hello. After, they lay on the sofa together. 

“So what have you been up to since you stood me up?” he asked her as he tweaked her nipple back to attention. 

“Well, quite a lot, actually. My parents, or the people I thought were my parents, were killed in an accident and my real father came forward, telling me the truth about my birth. I found out that I was adopted and that my real father was Maggia boss, Count Nefaria.” 

“That’s a lot to take in.” Tony was trying not to show his shock. He knew that Nefaria was as bad as they came and the Maggia was one of the largest, if not the largest, organized crime organizations in the world. 

“That’s not all. When Roger found out who I really am, he dumped me. Marrying a crime boss’ daughter wouldn’t look good to the voters, he said.” 

Tony swore. He knew that she had been fond of Vale, even if there had been no grand passion. “Vale is an idiot.” 

She reached her hand out and stroked him back to readiness, eliminating the need to talk for a while. If he’d been paying more attention, he might have realized she was stalling so she wouldn’t have to tell him more of her story. As it was, he was exhausted by the time they finished round two, exhausted enough that he didn’t ask her any more questions. 

He took her out to dinner, then back to his home.

“You can stay here with me, if you like. I tried to find you, but all my inquiries led to a dead end,” Tony told her as they entered the large, nearly empty mansion. 

He poured them a couple of drinks and they sat on the loveseat in his father’s office, talking. 

“I’ve miss you so much, Whitney,” Tony told her as he took her empty glass and set aside, leaning close to kiss her again. “I’m glad you’re not with Roger. I don’t feel like a cheat.”

She laughed. “Cheating has never bothered you at all, Tony Stark.” She ignored his kisses and poured herself another drink. 

“It bothered me. I just did it anyway.”

“You're my kind of people, Tony,” she said with a laugh. 

“Do you have bags?” 

“I stored them in your office building.” There was a storage facility on the first floor for bags and packages that came in from the outside. When Tony had allowed her in, she had asked to store her bags. After an x-ray and metal check, her bags had been accepted. 

“I'll send for them.” 

He called and asked to have Whitney Frost's bags sent to the mansion. 

“Sir, there aren't any bags under that name.” 

“Did a black haired woman leave her bags there earlier today?”

“Ah, yes, Krissy Longfellow was her name.” 

How odd, Tony thought. 

When he asked her about it, she said. “Call me Krissy now. Whitney Frost is long gone.”

So he did. 

She offered no real explanation, but that was simply her way. 

*

_The present day_

“Tony has had almost as many disgruntled employees as he does political and business enemies. There are many people who had the germ of an idea that Stark ran with and made into something extraordinary, or people who felt like he didn’t give their ideas enough attention,” Bruce told him. 

“Isn't it in the contract that any patents be shared with SI?” Natasha asked, knowing full well that it was. She had worked undercover there, but it had been work all the same, and she knew quite a bit about SI and its operations. 

“Yes, but there are always people who think that the contract doesn't mean anything,” Bruce answered. 

“Anyone stand out?” Steve asked.

“There was secretary who left suddenly and all her employment records except her name have been sealed,” Bruce said. “We've been trying to break the encryption, but so far, no luck.”

“So what was her name?” Steve asked. 

“Kristine Longfellow.”

Pepper had come into the room as they said her name. “She worked for Tony when I first worked at SI, down in the mailing room. She was very elegant with long black hair. She was an ex-socialite or something and she and Tony were quite the item.”

Steve asked, “Do you know any more about her?”

“He never talked about her at all, even when I asked.”

“We need to know more about her,” Natasha said.

“Call Rhodes,” Pepper said. “He was close to Tony then, too.”

Momentarily, Bruce brought Rhodes up on the screen in front of them. “Do you remember Kristine Longfellow?”

Rhodes rubbed his hand over his face. “Why on earth do you want to know about her?” 

“We're not leaving any stone unturned,” Bruce told him. 

“She was just there. He never said where he met her or who she was exactly. He was batshit crazy over her. She turned out to have some ties to organized crime or something and she was gone. He mooned around for quite a while.”

“Did she leave or did he send her away?” 

“It was all hushed up, even from me. I don't know for sure what happened. I do know she was suddenly gone and we never spoke of her again.”

“I'll dig around,” Natasha said. “I do have some unsavory contacts.”

Clint, who had joined them, snickered from where he sat. “You do at that.” 

“I’ll call Fury. He always knows what’s going on,” Steve said. 

Rhodes signed off and they went their separate ways to do their assigned tasks. Steve called Fury.

“Do you know where Stark is?” he said to Fury without preamble.

“How would I?”

“You know everything that happens everywhere. Do you happen to know a woman called Kristine Longfellow.” 

Silence on the other end.

“Fury?” 

“Did you say Kristine Longfellow?” 

“I did.” 

“Where did you get her name?”

“We were all making a list of former employees and her name came up. Miss Potts remembered her from her days in the mail room.” 

“Kristine Longfellow is the alias of Whitney Frost, aka Giulietta Nefaria.” 

“Nefaria as in the Maggia crime boss from Italy?” Steve had read the files on Nefaria since his crime family was still active in the world and in the US. They had a finger in nearly every bit of vice and crime in the world. 

“Yes. She is his natural daughter. She was raised by Byron Frost and his wife, and when they were killed in an accident, he contacted her and told her who she was.”

“You knew she was an apparent girlfriend of Tony Stark?” 

“I did.” 

“Have you considered her a threat to Stark?” 

“Not until now. Why are you looking at her?” 

“She sort of popped out.” 

“I’ll see what I can dig up for you.”

*

_The lights hurt!_

_His keepers were dressed in scrubs, including their faces. The light was so bright after days in the dark that it really didn’t matter anyway. He couldn’t have identified any of them._

_“Please do not be alarmed, Mr. Stark. We are only here to make some photos of you.” The voice sounded gravelly and mechanical, like it was filtered through some sort of scrubber that made it impossible to identify._

_He looked down at himself and realized he was naked, with catheters from every orifice and an IV inserted into his arm. He had monitors hooked up to him and tiny electrodes all over his chest. He could see several injuries though he felt no pain._

[](https://imgur.com/Lw9LcTk)

_He seemed to be suspended in some sort of tank though he couldn’t tell what was holding him up._

_There was a patch of something over his arc reactor, covering it completely. For all he knew, it wasn’t even there anymore._

_The flashes of several photos being taken blinded him again and before he could see anything, the voice said, “Thanks, Tony,” and was gone._

*

_The present time_

The photos arrived by courier from a commercial carrier. They were in a large business envelope and addressed to Avengers, Stark Tower, New York, NY. There were no prints and no letter inside. There were three glossy 8x10 photos of Tony Stark in some sort of lab, naked and hooked up to all sorts of machinery. He appeared to have several healing cuts on his body and limbs. There appeared to be an incision on his left side that had been sutured quite neatly. 

When Steve opened the envelope, he’d removed the photos with trembling hands and before he got to the third one, he realized he would tear the earth itself apart to find Stark and bring him home. He still couldn’t put a word to his feeling, but he began to fear he might be in love.

The other Avengers stood around him as he opened the envelope and they looked at the photos as he carefully laid them on the table. Steve wore gloves, which he’d donned as soon as the doorman gave him the envelope. 

“Fuck!” Clint whispered as Steve lay the third one on the table.

“He’s hurt!” Pepper put a hand over her mouth.

Steve stared at the photos, willing Tony to tell him something, anything. He knew then he had to find Tony, had to tell him how he felt. 

Within the hour, Nick Fury made a trip to Avengers Tower to see the photos. Agent Hill was with him. 

“These could be from anywhere,” he told Steve. 

“But they’re not, are they? They’re from somewhere. Are you telling me the US government with its ability to watch me shower and shit can’t find any trace of Tony Stark being stolen from a nuclear power plant in Virginia and moved God knows where? You are full of shit and you know it!” Steve was shouting, and angrier than anyone had ever seen him. 

Hill spoke up. “I’ll see what the DoD and the intelligence community can tell us.” 

“Why the hell haven’t you already done that?” Steve barked at her. 

Maria Hill wasn’t afraid of much, but an angry Steve Rogers did make her back up a little. 

“Are we still looking at Giulietta Nefaria for this?” Fury asked him.

“Maybe. Not long after she found out that Nefaria was her father, she took over the East Coast Maggia. The best we can tell, this is just after she worked for Tony Stark as Kristine Longfellow,” Hill told them. 

“We know that much. See what you can find out about those years for Tony and for this Longfellow woman,” Steve said, clearly issuing orders to the Avengers and to Fury and Hill as well. “He needs rescuing. We don’t know how bad his injuries are.” 

No one dared argue with them as they all hurried to their tasks. 

*  
_The late 1990s_

Tony and Kristine had a wildly passionate relationship. He hired her to work his personal assistant, which, as far as he was concerned, meant she was close enough for sex even when he had to be in the office for actual business. More than one underling and associate walked in on them having sex on Tony’s desk or somewhere else in the room. It was sort of an office joke. 

Kristine was actually a very good assistant as well. She organized Stark’s life so well that all he had to do to look good was simply show up where she told him to. She made sure he signed the proper documents, supported the right causes, ate and partied at the right places. She was a wonder and set the bar high for anyone who came after her. 

They moved from the dusty old Stark mansion to a posh apartment in Manhattan. 

“I’m so glad you came back to me, Kris,” Tony told her as they dressed for a charity event that Stark Industries was hosting. 

She came out of the bathroom dressed in what she’d wear under her forty thousand dollar gown, nothing. Except a pair of black spiked heels. 

Tony took one look at her and ripped his tie off and walked toward her.

“We’ll be late,” she told him as he slipped a hand between her legs, finding her wet and ready. 

“We can’t be. It’s our party. Besides, you’re so wet right now that you’re going to leave a spot on your dress. I need to take care of that before you dress.” 

They were an hour late for their party, but no one minded. The food and drink were top notch and Stark and his secretary always sent their guests home with lots of gossip about how the two of them couldn’t keep their hands off of one another. 

Late that night, Tony lay in bed and considered how lucky he was to have such a sexy and brilliant woman in his life. He reached out and touched Krissy. She rolled over and he looked at her in the moonlight. He thought he might propose soon. She scooted close and made a little noise as she settled against him. 

The next day, he had meetings with some government officials about some satellite targeting data that would improve the defense grid. It was supposed to help the government be able to disable old and outdated satellites as new ones came online. Because of the clearances involved in the material to be discussed, Krissy couldn’t come along. 

When he returned home later in the day, she was gone. All her clothes, everything. There wasn’t even a tissue she’d used left behind. She left no note, no anything. 

Tony called all the numbers he had for her. As a last resort, he called Roger Vale. 

“Where is Whitney?”

“Who is this?” 

“Tony Stark, Stark Industries.”

“Stark, I haven’t seen Whit- Giulietta in years, not since we broke up after her parents died. I heard she was with you again.” 

“She, uh, she was, but she seems to have cleared out. She’s been working as my personal assistant for the last few months.” 

“You don’t know?” 

“Know what?” Tony hated being in the dark. He prided himself on knowing a little of everything that went on.

“She runs the East Coast Maggia for her father. That’s why we split. I couldn’t, in good conscience, run for office if my girlfriend or wife ran a criminal organization.”

Tony was dumbfounded. She’d never been part of her father’s business. Had she?

“You’re better off if she doesn’t come back. I know she’s a beauty and a spitfire, but she’s also dangerous as hell.” 

Tony thanked Vale and hung up. Krissy a crime lord? It couldn’t be true. 

Could it? 

Tony put his people on finding her, but she didn’t seem to want to be found at all. They traced her to Laguardia the day she left him and that was the last he heard from her for another two years. 

*

_The present day_

Steve was staring at his computer screen as Natasha came into the room and stood by his desk without saying a word. 

He suddenly seemed to notice her and looked up. “Can I help you, Natasha?”

“I got some information on Giulietta Nefaria. She operates out of New York and has for years. No one knows exactly where. Her crime syndicate controls gambling, money laundering and is rumored to deal in arms from time to time. She still has ties with organized crime in Europe and Russia. She’s even been rumored to have ties to the Yakuza families in Japan. She’s a big criminal, Steve, one of the biggest. Making Tony Stark disappear is probably child’s play for her.”

“But why?” 

“It has to be something that happened when they were a couple.”

“Well, she’s never been up against me before.”

Natasha touched his shoulder. “I’m not sure I like the sound of that, Steve. You can’t take on a whole crime organization by yourself.”

“I’m not by myself. I’ve got you all. I took on Hitler with the Commandos in the forties.” His voice had that steely determination that wouldn’t be swayed. 

“Just don’t go off half-cocked. Let’s find out where he is before you get yourself killed or worse, taken prisoner.” 

Her last words stayed with him after she’d gone. Maybe if they could find Stark’s location, he could trade places with Stark. He was stronger and would be able to withstand more physical abuse than Stark could.

“JARVIS, are there any companies anywhere registered in the names Whitney Frost, Kristine Longfellow or even Giulietta Nefaria or any combinations similar?” 

“I will check the databases, Captain Rogers. I was not in operation until the last time Miss Nefaria came to visit Mr. Stark.”

“Really? Tell me what you know.” Steve was surprised that his heart was beating a lot faster all of a sudden. 

“Miss Nefaria is 175.26 centimeters tall. She is slender of build, has black hair, hazel eyes. She is quite pleasing visually, in human terms.”

“Do you have a photo?” he asked. 

A photo of Tony and a glamorous woman appeared on his computer screen. She was certainly pleasing to the eye, and doubly so with Tony Stark by her side with his near black hair and dark eyes. He was looking at the woman as if he could eat her up. She looked just as smitten with him.

[](https://imgur.com/7kisi1i)

“She disappeared from any public appearances several years ago, just after the last time she was with Mr. Stark. I have no information that she has contacted him since then.”

“Thanks, JARVIS.”

“Sir, a company called Longfellow Properties owns several warehouses here In New York and in New Jersey, sir. Longfellow Properties is a shell company for Frosty Morning Inc.”

“I think that’s her. Does she have an address on record?” 

“Yes sir. It’s not three blocks from here.”

*  
_The early 2000s_

Tony had started drinking seriously after Krissy left him. He appeared at work too drunk to stand up as often as not, but even more alarming, he appeared at public events too drunk to stand up as well. 

The thing was that he had so much money that people actually put up with his behavior. Obadiah Stane had been a partner of his father’s and had watched SI from afar since Tony had taken over. He stayed back as long as Tony was doing all right with the company, but this business with Krissy was too much and Stane began to take an interest in the day to day operations as well as any meetings on the government contracts. 

“Tony, son, you need to forget this girl. She was bad news for you. Find a new girl. Get a new hobby,” Obie told him one morning when he actually did show up at his office on time. 

“What do you suggest? Religion? Meditation?”

Obadiah laughed his big laugh and clapped tony on the back. “Not on your life, son. You’re as smart as Howard. Get your ass into the lab and do some work! Design something to make yourself even richer!”

Tony took his advice and poured himself into his work. He designed weaponry for the US military. There was a new Stark product everywhere one went, from phones to cars to medical equipment and military hardware and software, much of it Tony’s own work. 

Obadiah backed off a little when he became confident that Tony was going to behave and remain sober. 

Tony hired a new girl as his assistant, a girl who’d worked for him for a while, a Miss Virginia Potts. Miss Potts was quiet and he didn’t figure he’d ever be tempted by her like he had been Krissy. 

He had finally gotten himself back on track when someone came into his office one day and told Miss Potts that Juliette Nefaria wanted to speak to Tony. Miss Potts had heard of the family. Everyone knew that Count Nefaria ran the Italian Maggia and recently his daughter Giulietta Nefaria was seen around Europe on the arm of Mordecai Midas, a fabulously rich Greek who lavished her with gifts. 

“Mr. Stark, sir, there’s a Miss Nefaria here to see you.” 

Tony had frozen for a moment at the name. 

“Ah, uh, send her in, Miss Potts.”

He stood, glad he was dressed in a suit for meetings with some DoD officials today. 

Krissy, as he knew her, was still as beautiful as ever. He crossed the room to embrace her and kissed her cheek. 

“It’s good to see you, Miss Nefaria,”

“Please, Krissy works for us, doesn’t it?” She kissed him full on the mouth as she pressed her long body against his. 

He pulled away. “Stop it, Krissy. I don’t think I can let you stomp on my heart again.”

“Can’t two old friends share a kiss?” 

“Were we ever friends? I can’t look at you yet without wanting to ravish you.”

“So let’s do it. I’ve never had anyone like you.” 

“Do you know how badly you hurt me the last time? I can’t do that again.”

She rubbed against him, and he backed up. “Please go, Krissy. I am finally sober and working again and I can’t risk that and my contracts by having a girlfriend who is a Maggia boss.”

She let her silky dress drop to the floor and she wore the same underwear she always had, none. Tony’s mouth went dry and his cock swelled. 

“You sound like Roger,” she purred as she came closer to him.

“Please put your dress back on and go, Krissy. I can’t do this again.”

Her eyes had looked like storm clouds, but she had done as he had asked. 

“Someday, Tony Stark, you will regret this.” 

And she was gone. 

The accident was never in the paper or on the news. Tony saw to that. 

Krissy had run off the road in her Italian sports car on her way back upstate to her estate and her face had been mutilated when they dragged her from the crashed car. She would live, but her beauty was marred with scars. 

Tony tried to call her for weeks with no answer, until he finally gave up. 

He never forgot her. He mistakenly believed she had forgotten him. 

He was wrong. 

*

_The present day_

Steve went to the address JARVIS gave him. It was an office with expensive furniture and art in the lobby and a blond secretary behind a desk. In other words, it was like any office in Manhattan. 

“May I help you, sir?” The secretary barely glanced at him as she spoke, then looked at him again, appreciating his good looks. 

“I am looking for Giulietta Nefaria.” 

“This is the office of Frosty Morn. We are real estate brokers and building contractors.” 

“And your name?” 

“Julia Frost. This is my family’s company.”

He didn’t believe a word of it and wasn’t convinced that she wasn’t Giulietta Nefaria, but he couldn’t prove it. If she was, she certainly had on a convincing disguise. 

“Tell Miss Nefaria that Steve Rogers would like to talk to her, face to face.” He scribbled a number on a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to her. He turned and left.

*

After he left, the young woman pressed a button and her face changed back to the scarred face of Giulietta Nefaria. She opened the drawer and removed an exquisitely beautiful golden mask, a mask made for her by her friend, Mordecai Midas himself. She put it on her face and Madame Masque rose from her seat and went back into her office. 

So that was Steve Rogers. Her Tony still collected pretty things, didn’t he? So did she. 

*

Steve returned to Avengers Tower. He didn’t say anything to anyone. Instead he went to Tony’s shop. He stared at the Iron Man suits there. Was that Giulietta Nefaria he met in the office? He was pretty sure it was. Did she have Tony imprisoned there on that property? He didn’t think so. He’d bet Tony was somewhere in a warehouse. She certainly owned enough of them to hide someone in one. 

He was beginning to piece together what she had with Tony, but the reason she would take him hostage still eluded him. Someone had to know something, didn’t they? 

His phone buzzed. Unknown number. 

“Hello?”

“Captain Rogers, I presume.” She didn’t sound like a monster. She did sound like the secretary he’d met a few hours earlier. 

“Yes. I’m looking for Tony Stark. He’s turned up missing and we’re getting a little concerned.”

“Ah, Stark. I haven’t spoken with Tony in years, since I took over my father’s business. Tony was a little squeamish about all my business interests.” She drew the word out like a caress. 

“I can see where he would be.” 

“Oh, he wasn’t wearing that silly suit in those days. When I met him he was a pretty, horny, rich drunk and we had such fun. He’s a great fuck, by the way. Do you like men, Captain Rogers? If you do, I suggest giving him a try. He has no inhibitions at all. Neither do I. Not many men want to fuck me these days.” 

“If you know where Tony is, would you tell me?”

“If I did know, where is the fun in telling you?” 

“Is he hurt?” 

“How would I know? Goodbye, Captain Rogers.” 

And she was gone. 

Steve was angry. She was playing with him. Like a cat with a mouse. What did she mean by not many men wanting to fuck her? Was there something wrong with her? 

He had made copies of the photos of Tony on his phone. He brought them up and looked at them. His heart ached at the thought of Tony tortured and hurt. His anger grew, a cold rage low in his belly. He would save Tony. He had to. 

He was beginning to understand what was causing the feelings he was having about Stark, feelings that were clearly going a little beyond mere friendship. He hadn’t felt that way since Bucky died. 

*

_During one of his waking periods, Tony noticed something. He still had his bracelet that called the suit, the one he wore in the Chitauri battle. He didn’t know if he’d ever be awake long enough to do anything about it, but he knew it was there._

_He seemed to be allowed to remain awake longer each time. There were even lights now and again as people came into the room to care for him. His cuts were cleaned and he was bathed by gentle hands._

_Who would do this to him?_

*  
_The mid-2000s_

After Giulietta disappeared the last time, Tony poured himself into the work again though he also did a fair amount of womanizing and partying. Miss Potts was proving a real asset to him in business and Obadiah was always there for him. Both of them made him look good when he was too busy partying to care.

Stark Industries had contracts with the military, with the Air Force in particular. Rhodey was in the Air Force and Obie approved of the military contracts, so how could he lose? 

“Miss Potts, I’m going to Afghanistan next week on business. Can you handle things here at home?”

Pepper laughed. She could do that, but Obadiah would be here to manage anyway. He always was. Tony seemed to trust him completely, but she wasn’t quite as smitten with Stane as Tony seemed to be. 

“Will you be in danger?” she asked him, suddenly serious. 

“Are you kidding? It’s in, show them the goodies and back home. One, two, three.”

“Do you ever feel bad about making all these weapons?” 

“Come on, Miss Potts. Someone has to do it and it might as well be me. A good offense is the best defense. These things are a deterrent and are good for peace.”

“If you say so,” she’d finally answered. 

And he was gone to Afghanistan and nothing in any of their lives would ever be the same. 

*

Giulietta Nefaria, for the most part, ignored Tony Stark and the Iron Man stories on the news. How like Tony to make himself a superhero suit! He had always wanted all the attention in the world and now he had it.

She was surprised that he hadn’t come for her and her organization yet. Maybe chasing aliens was more fun. She began gathering information about Tony and his Avengers. She had no idea what she would do with the information yet. 

He would pay for rejecting her and causing her disfigurement. That much was certain.

*

_The Present day_

Steve started checking out the warehouses that belonged to Nefaria. He didn’t tell the other Avengers exactly what he was doing. He simply rode on his motorcycle to each of the locations. 

The first one was filled with illegal cigarettes. There was still a huge market for cigarettes without the high state taxes paid on them. The Maggia would, of course, be in the middle of this. He waited until midday when the warehouse was empty except for a security guard on the outside. The business of smuggling went on there in the dead of night. He slipped inside after disabling the alarms the way Natasha had taught him to do several months ago. He used the gas can he brought with him to douse the volatile cigarettes in their cardboard boxes then set the whole thing on fire. Satisfied that it would burn completely, he slipped out and returned to Avengers Tower. 

It didn’t even make the news. 

The next two warehouses were receptacles for stolen goods. Steve sent the police to those, hoping that, at least, the goods could be returned to their owners. The fourth was filled with weapons, this one he burned as well. It made such an explosion that it did make the news. His colleagues looked at him askew when they saw it. 

“Know anything about that, Steve?” Natasha asked him. 

“Why would I?” 

“Maybe because you’ve been disappearing every time one of those warehouses goes down.” 

He shrugged. Natasha knew him too well. They all did.

*

_He was somewhere different. The room wasn’t as dark as the other one. He could see lights under the door sometimes when he was awake. Of course, they had sedated him when they moved him so he had no way to gage how far they’d moved him._

_His keepers didn’t seem to be as careful as they were before the move either. Sometimes they seemed to forget to sedate him as they left the room. He wasn’t going to remind them. The cobwebs seemed to dissipate quicker now than they had before._

*

Natasha decided to follow Steve the next time he went out. She had the list of warehouses and already knew which ones he’d shut down. She was afraid he’d do something stupid because he was like that. He was willing to sacrifice himself for those he cared about and she was pretty sure he cared more about Tony than he realized and certainly more than he understood. 

It was hard to follow him and not have him realize she was behind him, so she took a chance on which warehouse he’d go to next. She chose wrong. 

He was headed to New Jersey. 

The warehouse she chose was a secret gambling club. She wasn’t nearly as concerned about loss of life as Steve was and she started a fire there. All the high rollers got out, but another one of Giulietta Nefaria’s clubs bit the dust. No one but Giulietta would worry over that. 

She debated heading to New Jersey, since the ones there were the next warehouses on the list, but decided that Steve might be done with his mayhem by the time she got there. 

*

_Tony didn’t know it, but he was now in the New Jersey warehouse and not in a sealed subbasement anymore. That room had been at one of the warehouses in the city, the one that had contained boxes and boxes of guns and other weaponry._

_He’d been left alone quite a lot today without being kept asleep. He had been practicing moving his arms and legs. There was some weakness and numbness but they must have been exercising him when he was sedated, because he was not nearly as weak as he thought he should be._

_He had been wearing the MK VII suit he wore when he’d carried the bomb into space when they were called out to the power plant. He’d repaired it as soon as things settled after the battle of New York. It had to be here somewhere, didn’t it?_

_He wiggled and moved for hours and no one came to check on him. He kept wiggling until he finally got one hand loose. He touched the bracelet. He spoke, the first words he’d said in days._

_“JARVIS, can you hear me? I need the suit.”_

*

Back in Avengers Tower, JARVIS picked up the signal from the bracelet and sent a signal to the suit. It would find the bracelet and Tony itself. 

JARVIS also contacted Steve Rogers by phone. Steve felt the buzz in his pocket and pulled off the road to answer it. 

“Captain Rogers, the MK VII suit was just called via Mr. Stark’s bracelet. The signal is coming from the New Jersey warehouse that I believe to be your destination.”

“Can he get away from them in the suit?”

“I don’t know, sir, but I can fly it for him if you can get him out in the open. We can bring him home.”

“Let’s do that, then. I’m not far from there.”

He was only minutes from his destination and pulled up soon after his conversation with JARVIS.

Steve parked his motorcycle in some nearby woods and headed in. He scaled the fence as if it were two feet high instead of twenty. He slipped in at an open loading dock. He stopped to listen to the men stationed there. 

“…another fire in the city. The Boss’s club this time. She figures it’s that Captain guy that was all over the news when New York got attacked.” 

“A pretty thing like him ain’t nothin’ to fear. He’s just a suit.”

Steve smiled to himself. They’d soon see how untrue that was.

“Do any of you fellas know where Iron Man is?” Steve had spotted Iron Man walking very unsteadily in his suit in the open door behind the men. 

When they both turned to look at him, he yelled, “Take him away, JARVIS!” Tony rather awkwardly took flight and was out of sight before the guards could produce their weapons.

Steve bonked one with his shield and headed in the door that Tony had just come out.

There she stood with her golden mask – Madam Masque, the head of the Maggia in the US and Tony’s old girlfriend. She was tall and shapely. Her dark hair framed her mask like a cloud.

“What do they call you now?” Steve called out to her. 

“I am the Boss or you may call me Madam Masque.” 

“I don’t really want to talk to you at all. I want to take you in, turn you in to SHIELD.” 

She laughed. “What on Earth would Nick Fury do with me?”

“I’d hope he’d lock you up and throw away the key.” 

“Captain Rogers, you have no idea how far my little arms reach. Bring him to my office, boys.” 

When her men went to subdue Steve, he fought every single one of them off, all the while making his way toward Madam Masque.

To her credit, she didn’t back down as he advanced. 

He came close to her, still punching a man away here and there. 

“Why did you do this?” he asked her.

She ripped the golden mask away. One side of her face was beautiful as it had always been. The other side was scarred with a thick ropey scar similar to the worst ones on Stark’s chest. It covered one whole side of her face.

“This is why!” 

“He didn’t do that to you!” Steve said, angry at her accusation. 

“I went to him, offered to let him join my world and be my lover. He sent me away. I was so angry and so upset that I lost control of my car and crashed. This is what was left of me! He owes me!” 

“Well, he’s gone from you now and I don’t think anyone will ever let you close enough to hurt him again.”

“But I have you!” 

He felt a dart puncture his suit. He knew that whatever she sedated Stark with would not work on him long, if at all. He decided to play along with her. Perhaps it would give him a chance to capture her. He touched his phone, sending a signal to Avengers Tower with his location and an SOS of sorts, then he grabbed his leg and collapsed on the floor. 

“Throw him in the cell and bind him with as many chains as you can find. I’ll show him my power,” Madam Masque barked to her underlings and they were quick to obey. “I’m certainly stronger than any man in a silly superhero suit!”

Steve let his head loll to the side as they picked him up and carried him to a room that he assumed had been where they held Stark. He looked through barely opened eyes at the bed and equipment that must have been where Stark had been sedated. He let them drop him on the floor and chain him up. 

One of the men he’d tossed across the room poked him with a stick a few times to satisfy himself that Steve was indeed unconscious. He felt them stick a needle into him. It slowed his mind for a moment, but that was all. The serum allowed him to metabolize drugs so quickly that few had ever had any effect on him at all.

He lay there, praying that Tony had gotten home all right and waited for Giulietta Nefaria to come to him again. 

Several things happened all at once. 

All of the Avengers got the alarm from Steve. Bruce forwarded the information to Fury and Hill as well. Natasha arrived back at Avengers Tower about the time that Tony came in for a landing on the newly repaired landing pad on the roof. Prodded by JARVIS’ alerting them to his arrival, Pepper and Bruce went up to help Tony. 

The rest of the group took off in a Quinjet for New Jersey, following the beacon on Cap’s phone. 

Pepper and Bruce caught Tony as he walked out of his suit and fell forward. They carried him to the medical floor and were met by one of the nurses who manned the floor every day. He was placed on a gurney and carried inside. Neither Bruce nor Pepper were willing to let him out of their sight quite yet, so they followed close behind. The nurse had called a doctor who was there in moments. 

*

_Tony was home. He knew that much, but he was still a little confused at how he got there. He remembered seeing Cap and then he flew a long time and then Bruce and Pepper caught him._

_He cringed when the doctor came to the gurney._

_“It’s all right, Tony. We’re not leaving you. Pepper and I are right here,” Bruce leaned over him and told him, putting a hand on his arm._

_Pepper spoke, “The doctor needs to check your vitals, Tony, and he might need a little blood but we are here. You’re home.”_

_Tony hadn’t spoken yet. He wasn’t sure he could. He closed his eyes after the doctor finished with all his examinations. Bruce sat right by him as Pepper got up to talk to the doctor. When she came back, she sat by Bruce and took Tony’s hand._

_“The doctor says you’re fine. Even the sewed up place was a superficial wound. You just need some rest until all the drugs get out of your system.”_

_He nodded and closed his eyes again._

_Home._

_He was home._

_Where was Steve?_

*

Steve was still chained in Madame Masque’s warehouse. 

She came into the room. 

“Is he still out? How much did you give him?” she asked.

“No more than we gave Iron Man,” her henchman answered. 

She approached him cautiously. When she leaned down to get a better look, he grabbed one of her arms and opened his eyes. 

“Get in here and put him out,” she yelled. 

By the time her men were in doorway, Steve had broken the chains that held him and stood. 

“I wouldn’t advise it,” he said to her. 

All three of her men collapsed as Barton and Natasha came into the room, followed by Fury and Hill and an assortment of SHIELD personnel.

“Who’s this, Cap?” Natasha asked as she approached Madame Masque with a deadly smile.

“This is Giulietta Nefaria and these are some of her men. There are, no doubt, some more lurking about in the shadows,” Cap told them. “Take her away.” 

Fury nodded to his men and they cuffed her and her men.

“You okay?” Hill asked Steve. 

“Did Stark get out? I saw him in his Iron Man suit, but he didn’t look very steady.”

Natasha talked in her com for a moment and spoke to him. “Bruce says he’s fine. A little beat up and groggy, but the doc says he’s fine.”

Suddenly, Steve couldn’t wait to get back to him. He had no idea how Tony felt, but he needed to see for himself that Tony was all right.

*

Tony was back in his own suite when Steve got back, got cleaned up and went to visit him. He noticed Pepper’s purse and sweater on the sofa when he went in. 

He stepped to the bedroom door. Tony looked a little pale and thin against the pillows. Pepper was buzzing around the room, moving this and patting that. 

“Hi Stark. Just wanted to make sure you’re all right.”

Tony nodded, not saying anything. 

Steve didn’t really know what to say or do. Pepper was making him nervous. “I’ll check back later. Let me know if you need anything,” he finally said. 

Pepper followed him out of the room. 

“He’s not said a word,” she whispered. 

“He will. He’s probably still in shock.” 

“Who had him? Was it Kristine Longfellow?”

“Yes. She’s a crime boss in the Maggia. She wears a gold mask and calls herself Madame Masque. Fury and Hill took her in, but you know how slippery people like that are. We’ll see.”

He took his leave of Pepper and went to talk to the others. 

They all sat around the conference table. 

Hill had remained while Fury was gone with the detail that had Nefaria. She spoke first. “Were you going to call us when you found her?” 

Steve shook his head. “I was seriously considering killing her. We _did_ call you.”

“Only for help in finding out who she was.” Hill was angry, but she didn’t raise her voice.

Natasha held up her hands. “Hey! What difference does it make now? We got her and at least some of her organization and we closed down a dozen warehouses of vice of one kind or another. And we got Stark back. Isn’t that a win?” 

Hill simply looked annoyed. 

“What is your problem, Agent Hill?” Barton asked. He usually said little except for the odd joke now and again. That he spoke at all was an indication of how angry he was.

“She is just the Boss of the Eastern US Maggia. She’s a drop in the bucket,” Hill answered.

“No, she isn’t. She’s Count Nefaria’s daughter and since he’s been in a nursing home for the last two years with dementia, I think she is the head of the whole syndicate. She teamed up with Mordecai Midas a few years ago, but he’s in prison now, too,” Natasha said. Someone had been doing her homework. “Besides, my contacts say she’s the sole leader now.”

“Your contacts?” Hill raised an eyebrow. 

“You know where I came from. They know crime and crime families. People still owe me favors. I called some in for information.”

“I need to talk to Stark,” Hill told them as she stood.

“He’s not talking,” Peeper said as she walked into the conference. 

“He won’t talk?” Maria asked, he hackles clearly up. 

Steve answered her. “No, Maria. He simply hasn’t spoken since we got him home. I think he may need some time.” 

Agent Hill sighed and stacked her folders. “I’ll come back in a few days then.” 

Steve stayed away from Tony the rest of the day, though he called Pepper three times. 

“Steve, he’s fine. He’ll talk when he’s ready.” 

Steve wasn’t convinced. He paced and worried and paced some more. The next morning, he went to Stark’s suite again. Pepper was already there. It was no wonder he didn’t talk. She did everything for him. 

“You stay with him.” Pepper actually looked relieved to see him. “I have SI business to do and it can’t wait.”

She grabbed her things and left. 

Steve sat down by the bed. 

“All right, Stark, what’s the silent treatment for? For you to not talk for an hour is a miracle, for this long is scary.” 

Tony finally spoke. His voice was gravelly from disuse. “I loved her. I actually loved her. I wanted to marry her, make her my business partner, too.”

“Nefaria?”

“Krissy Longfellow, though she was Whitney Frost when I first met her. I was young and rich and she was engaged, but she ran off with me for one night. What a night.”

“Are you still in love with her?”

Tony shook his head. “I think Krissy I loved died in the car crash that ruined her face.”

“She blamed you?” 

“I sent her away. I told her I couldn’t let her break my heart again. She was angry and drove too fast and crashed that car she loved to drive so fast.”

Steve took Tony’s hand, half expecting Tony to pull it back. He didn’t. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. I’m sorry we didn’t find you sooner.”

“I never talked about her to anyone.”

They sat in the quiet room for a long time. 

“Are you hungry? I can call for something or make you something though my cooking talents are mostly sandwich making.”

“Not yet. Just stay here for a while longer.”

“I’ll stay as long as you need me.”

Pepper returned two hours later to find Tony asleep in his bed and Steve asleep in the chair beside the bed. He was still holding Tony’s hand. 

*

Tony was physically well, but he didn’t bounce back. He stayed in his bedroom, watching television and playing video games. Most of the team took turns hanging out with him. Barton especially loved playing games with him and beating him. He was the only one who could. 

Steve was in his office, doing some paperwork for Maria Hill when Natasha came in and sat down. She didn’t say anything, just watched him work for a while. 

“Can I help you?” Steve finally asked her.

“You need to drag Stark’s ass out of his rooms.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re all moony over him,” she said with a grin. 

“Moony?” 

“Well, sappy then. Is that better?” 

“He’s my teammate and my friend, Natasha.” 

“So am I, but you’re not sappy about me. The last time I got hurt, you told me to walk it off.” 

He shrugged. “You’re tougher than Stark.”

“Maybe the two of you should just shag.” 

Steve dropped the papers he was working on and started at her.

“Come on. You can’t tell me it hasn’t crossed your mind.” 

Of course it had, but he’d shoved it really far back and refused to think about it. 

She leaned forward. “I knew it. It _has_ crossed your mind.”

He didn’t know what to say so he said nothing. 

“That’s all I came to say. Get his ass up and out of that room. We’re all getting worried about him.”

*

Steve Rogers grew up in a world that was simple – a black and white world. Men married women and had children with them. But he was different. Women had little to do with him, so he never developed any relationship with any woman other than his mother until Peggy Carter had come along. Of course, he fell head over heels in love with her. 

But there had been other feelings he’d had as well, those ‘gray’ feelings that he couldn’t talk about or act on for fear of getting caught. 

He’d had a crush on Bucky since they were boys. There wasn’t any other word that described it. He had it bad, too. He followed Bucky around like a sappy little puppy. Bucky hadn’t minded because he liked Steve and felt protective of him, like a big brother maybe. 

He never told Bucky that it was him he thought of late at night when he was alone in his bed. It was him he dreamed of kissing, not the girls Bucky got him dates with. 

After he became Captain America, when the girls in the USO show made him offers, he took them up on them. He learned a lot about sex and pleasure from those women, all of them lonely, far from home and sometimes just in need of comfort. He found out that he liked women, too, and since that was socially acceptable, he put his thoughts of Bucky out of his mind and concentrated on making his USO girls happy. 

And his black and white world came crashing down when he met Tony Stark. 

He denied it and ignored it until Tony had been kidnapped. He felt like he had when he crushed on Bucky. Except now he knew exactly what he wanted. There was no vague idea of something forbidden and unspoken. He wanted Tony Stark in his arms. He knew that now for certain. 

But he had no idea what to do about it. There had been no hint that Stark felt anything of the same sort for him. If anything, Stark seemed to almost dislike him. 

Except when he didn’t. 

There were moments.

Steve thought back to the helicarrier and their argument. His heart had pounded and he knew now it wasn’t just anger, but more than that. There was the moment when the battle was over and Tony had made the remark about no one had kissed him, had they? Steve surely had the urge to do just that when he saw that Stark was safe and alive. 

And now, he finally realized and faced the fact that he was well and truly smitten with Tony Stark.

What the hell was he going to do about it?

*

Tony Stark had several dilemmas, the biggest one being that he was freaking terrified to leave his room. 

The second one was Pepper. He loved her and they had slept together for quite a while and seemed to be a couple, but he wasn’t in love with her. He’d realized that when he remembered how it felt to be in love with Krissy Longfellow. He wanted to feel that again.

The third one was not something he was quite sure of, but it seemed that Rogers spent a lot of time with him. He didn’t quite know how he felt about that. Rogers was all the men he’d ever crushed on rolled into one very real superhero. His father had idolized Rogers, too. He needed to sort out just what it was he felt. 

First things first though. He needed to leave his fucking bedroom! 

*

The elephant in the tower was Tony Stark’s inability to leave his room. 

“Tony, try to come to the kitchen to eat. You have got to get out of here,” Pepper said for not the first time. 

He sighed and looked to the side. “I know that, Miss Potts. I – I can’t seem to manage it.”

“How do you know? Hold my hand and I’ll walk with you. Hell, I’ll get Steve up here in his Captain America suit if it’ll make you feel safe enough to step out of this room.”

“I’ll try.” 

He was, at least, dressing in his normal jeans and t-shirt or pajama pants and tank top these days. He got out of the bed and headed toward the door. Pepper waited at the door and took his hand and he started through the doorway and stopped. 

“Nope. Not today! I can’t take a chance.” He backed up. “Sorry, Pep. Really, I just can’t.”

“It’s okay, Tony. We’ll try again tomorrow.”

“Want to sleep over?” He wiggled his eyebrows. 

“Sure.”

“Want to sleep in my room tonight?” 

She kissed his cheek and hugged him. “Of course. Are you going to behave?” 

“Certainly not.” 

*

Steve and Natasha showed up the next day in full Avenger regalia. 

Tony laughed. 

“We’ve come to escort you to the other room,” Natasha said. “If the two of us can’t keep you safe, then no one can.”

“It’s worth a try,” Tony took Steve’s arm and Nat’s on the other side and they went out of his bedroom into his den with only a few stutters. They all sat on the sofa and watched television for a couple of hours. 

Nat got up and kissed Tony’s cheek. “I’m going to bother Clint. He might be resting and we can’t have that.” 

Tony nodded. “Thanks, Romanov.” And she was gone, leaving him alone with Steve in his Cap suit. 

“I’m going to change clothes, Stark. This suit isn’t much comfortable unless it’s working.”

Panic shot through Tony for a moment and he tried not to let it show on his face. 

Steve noticed. “Or I can stay,” Steve said quickly. 

“No. I can’t shake every time I’m alone. I’ll be fine. Go about your day.”

“If you’re sure.” 

“I am. Go!”

Steve left him channel surfing, hoping he might go over to his small work table sometime and become interested in something. Even though it had just been a couple of days, they all were worried about Stark, Steve especially. He told himself it was what any friend would do. 

Steve changed and went to his paperwork. Fury and Hill kept him busy with forms and forms and more forms. No wonder the world was suffering from deforestation. He figured he had used up several forests himself in the short time he’d been thawed out. Imagine people doing this for years on end! 

Pepper called him and asked about Tony. “We left him watching television on the sofa. He hasn’t called me to come back so I assume he’s all right.”

“Has he told you anything about what happened to him?”

“Not much. He said he loved the woman, or who she used to be.” 

“That’s more than he’s said to me,” Pepper said. “Check on him, if you would. He’s too stubborn and hard headed to ask for help, even if he needs it.”

Steve assured he would and got up to do just that after the call. 

Tony was still sitting on the sofa, watching television. He looked up when Steve opened the door and stuck his head in. “Pepper send you to check on me?”

Steve grinned and came in. “Busted.”

“I know I’m being a pain, but it was like I was dead, Steve. The first time I woke up, it was pitch black. I couldn’t see anything and I couldn’t feel anything either. I couldn’t move. They used some kind of drug that paralyzed me and they had me on a fucking respirator part of the time, too. I thought that I was actually dead when I first work up.”

A chill ran up Steve’s spine. He was in a state of suspended animation for all those years, knowing nothing, but the experience had still left him rattled when he was in confines spaces. Tony seemed to have been conscious and aware at least part of the time. 

“I didn’t realize it was that bad.” 

“When they moved me, they didn’t have the equipment they had in the first place, so I could see light and hear things. And they seemed to forget to keep me sedated as much of the time.” 

Steve saw how pale Tony had grown just talking about his experience. He reached a hand out and touched Tony’s arm. 

“It was cold and I was naked.” Tony put a hand over Steve’s and squeezed his hand. 

“You’re safe here.”

“I’m still cold.” Steve reached for the blanket on the back of the sofa with his free hand then used both to put it around Tony’s shoulder, then he took Tony’s hand in his again. 

“We’re all here for you, every single one of us.” 

Even after he left Tony, Steve thought about how frightening his captivity must have been for him. 

*

Tony seemed to be improving but he had not yet recovered completely. He worked a little in the apartment, but did not go down to his workshop or the R&D labs yet. Bruce often came to the apartment and worked with him. Happy Hogan had moved DUM-E and U into the apartment temporarily as well. They were at least a source of amusement, if they weren’t a lot of help sometimes. 

The team had not been called out since Tony’s kidnapping, but the quiet times never last and they didn’t this time either. 

A radical group in Afghanistan had gotten their hands on some older Stark Industries explosives. Everyone knew that Stark Industries had made excellent and efficient weapons when they made weapons. They had to be recovered and so far, normal military means were not getting the job done. The terrain was difficult and even natives hostile to the group with the stolen weaponry were not friendly to outside military forces. Special Forces had been considered but in the end, Fury had talked them into sending his team instead. 

Everyone suited up except Stark. 

It had been almost two months and while Tony was not back to normal yet, they’d all thought he’d respond when a call came in. 

As they assembled at the Quinjet, Bruce asked, “Tony coming?” 

“I haven’t seen him,” Steve answered as they strapped themselves into the plane. 

“Maybe he’s flying,” Bruce said. 

“I don’t think he’s been in his suit since we got him back,” Natasha responded, more than a little irritated. 

They took off in the Quinjet.

No Stark anywhere. 

More often than anyone liked to admit, things were not what they seemed. Missions looked to be one thing and turned out to be something entirely different once they got into them. This was certainly one such case.

While Giulietta Nefaria was in custody and awaiting trial, her organization was still alive and well. 

Her old friend and lover, Mordecai Midas, was out of jail as well. He had paid the proper authorities to look the other way and they’d only been too happy to oblige. He had ingratiated himself with an Afghan terror cell and made them a deal. He’d help them steal some Stark technology and weaponry in exchange for their helping him catch Tony Stark again. 

There was one catch. 

Tony Stark stayed in New York in his apartment at Avengers Tower. 

Mordecai Midas had built a cell for Stark out of vibranium that he had purchased from Ulysses Klaue. Klaue sold some of his stockpile to the gold rich Midas long before Ultron bought the rest of it. Stark would not be able to break out of the cell and his annoying Avenger friends would not be able to break into it either. It was a win/win for him. With Stark imprisoned, he could bargain for the return of his Giulietta. Both he and her organization would be happy. And she would be grateful for her freedom. 

A happy Giulietta was a woman who had no inhibitions at all and an appetite for sex as strong as his was. He adored everything about her down to the golden mask he had made for her. 

Hill had located the Stark weaponry fairly easily with her scanning equipment. She was on the coms with all of them. “Our scans show it in a cave network similar to Tora Bora, near the Khyber Pass. I’ll send you all the exact location.” 

“Roger that,” Steve answered her. To the team, he said, “Ready?” 

They all nodded in affirmation. 

The plane landed in stealth mode as close to the caves as possible. It was quiet all around. Too quiet. Way too quiet.

“I don’t like this, Cap,” Clint said quietly over his com.

“Me either. We go in with caution. Expect a trap.”

They fanned out and headed toward the target location. Everything remained completely silent. They grouped up near the mouth of the cave identified as their target. 

Hill’s voice sputtered to life in Cap’s ear. “I’m sending a SHIELD unit in, too. They’re only a few minutes out. I don’t like this, Cap.” Her last words repeated what Clint had said only moments before. 

The Avengers went inside the cave. 

Dark. 

Cold. 

Quiet. 

Then all hell broke loose as they were being fired on from in front and behind. Even with their night vision goggles, it seemed as if the enemy came from the walls themselves. They did note that the people shooting at them did not appear to be Afghans. They were dressed in local garb, but they were Europeans right down to their language as they shouted in what might have been Italian. 

*

Midas Mordecai was deep in the cave with his vibranuim cage. His com crackled in his ear. “Boss, Stark is not with them. We have Captain America, the redhead, the archer and a small guy who must be the Hulk. What shall we do?” 

“Get one of them. Try to catch Rogers. He’s worth more than all the others combined.”

“We can’t drug him. The Boss tried that back in the US. It didn’t even slow him down,” another man said. 

“If you can get him in the cage, he can’t get loose. We know that. So do it,” Midas told them. He had an idea. 

*

The Avengers headed deeper into the cave, fighting all the way. They heard something from deep in the cave that sounded like children or women screaming. There were no reports of hostages, but that didn’t matter. They hurried into the depths of the cave. 

“Be cautious. It might be a trap,” Steve told them all as he led the way. 

Natasha and Clint kept an eye out behind, picking off an enemy every now and again. They had handled the attack at the entrance and seemed to have things under control. Bruce stayed close to Natasha and Barton. He hadn’t hulked and hoped not to. Caves were a little cramped for the Hulk.

Steve kept charging ahead after he heard the apparent child’s cries and he got out of sight of the others.

Suddenly, the cave behind him was full of armed men. He ignored them and headed toward the depths of the cave, toward the sound and what he assumed was a trap. 

Midas had set the cage up as the entrance to the last part of the cave. To go in would be to enter the vibranium cage. Inside the cage, sat a phone playing the sound of a child’s cries. 

Steve rushed into the cave and only realized it was a cage when the door shut. He saw the phone on the floor with the child’s cried emanating from it, and he turned to see Midas smiling at him. 

“I wanted Stark, but you will do nicely, Captain. You should not have put my Giulietta in prison.” 

“She’s a criminal. She belongs in prison,” Steve ground out, trying to break the bars of his cage. “So do you. Why are you out?” 

“I paid the right people and here I am. Oh, those bars are vibranium. I don’t think you can get out. I think Giulietta’s scientist friends would love to play with you a bit, see what makes you tick and how much punishment you can take.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m expendable.”

“I will send your corpse back if they let my Giulietta go. Stark would understand. He’s had her… she is perfection. After her, no other woman can satisfy. Have you ever had a woman who has no boundaries, Captain?”

“You’d do all this for a fuck? You’re a damned fool!” 

Midas laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. “I take it the answer is no then.”

“Let my people go,” Steve said, not interested in talking about sex to this maniac. 

“Your people are fine. They are exiting the cave right now.”

“They won’t leave me here,” Steve said. 

“If they want to see you alive again, they will.” 

Steve knew he was in deep trouble, but that didn’t matter to him if his team was safe. He could take most of whatever they could dish out, but he knew the others didn’t have his strength and endurance. This Mordecai Midas seemed to be mad as a hatter when it came to Giulietta Nefaria. He remembered that Tony had talked about how much he had loved her as well. Steve was sure he didn’t see what it was that the others saw in her. She was just another criminal to him. 

*

“You what?” Nick Fury yelled at the top of his lungs. “You left my Captain America in a cave in Afghanistan? Are you crazy?”

“We had no choice,” Natasha told him.

“Well, you’re going to have to go back and get him.” 

“Don’t you think we know that?” Barton piped in. 

Fury made them explain the whole thing to him once more. And then again. He finally left the tower in a rage. Hill stayed behind. 

“What the hell, guys?” she asked them.

Before anyone could answer, Tony Stark walked into the briefing room. “What’s going on?” 

“Steve has been taken,” Natasha answered. 

“Taken by who?” His face paled. 

“Since some of the men there spoke Italian, in a cave in Afghanistan, I’d say someone connected to your Madame Masque,” Barton told him. 

“Why would they take Steve?” 

“Why did they take you? Maybe they were after you, but since you seem too fragile to be an Avenger these days, they took Steve instead,” Natasha growled, clearly furious at Stark as well as anyone who got in her way. 

“Shit! This is my fault then.” 

Agent Hill spoke. “Not your fault, but I agree that they were after you. We have reports that Mordecai Midas escaped from prison last week. He has been quite close to Nefaria for the last several years.”

*

Steve’s weapons were removed from the cage and he was alone. He hoped the others got away all right. He knew what the man told him, but that didn’t mean he believed him. He remembered reading that Nefaria had partnered with Mordecai Midas, a Greek tycoon turned villain. Midas had given her the golden mask she wore. 

He wondered how and if they were going to move him. He was fairly certain that none of them were brave or stupid enough to come into the cage with him as he was. They also knew that drugging him would be useless. He figured they were in a quandary as to what to do. 

No one came into the cave for at least twelve hours. Steve wondered if they planned on starving him. He could last for a good while, long enough for Fury and Hill to find him. He settled back to wait them out. 

*

Tony had gone to his workshop and started bringing up maps and information from Afghanistan and from what they knew about Nefaria and Midas. 

He’d still been too frightened by all that had happened in such a short time to go on the mission with them. He had known about it, but decided that if they didn’t come and ask him to go, he’d stay home.

If he’d gone, maybe they’d have taken him again. 

Or maybe with him and Steve and the rest of the Avengers, they might have brought Midas back in as well.

He set his equipment to begin searching computers all over the world for traces of vibranium. There was only a limited amount of it and most of that had been smuggled out of Wakanda by Ulysses Klaue. He should be able to pick up any unaccounted for amounts anywhere. The reason he decided to look for vibranium was that was the only thing he could figure out that would keep Steve imprisoned.

Bruce came in. “Need some help?” 

“I’m searching for vibranium.” 

“Good idea. We walked into an ambush there. They were ready for us.”

“They let the rest of you go?” 

“I think Midas is hoping to draw you out or get his girlfriend freed.”

“Bruce, she was – I could never see her as a crime boss. Krissy was rich and wild with a rebellious streak in her, but when her adopted parents died and Count Nefaria took her under his wing, she took to crime like a duck to water. I sometimes wonder if it was all my fault.” 

“How could it have been? She changed when she was apart from you.” 

“I know she blames me for the car accident. She came to me and offered herself to me. I told her that I couldn’t be with a criminal and I sent her away. She was upset and she crashed her car.”

“It was her fault, Tony. Not yours. Stop blaming yourself for other people’s faults. You have enough of your own, as do we all.” 

“Gee thanks,” Tony said without any rancor. 

“We need to figure out how to get Steve back. He’s the best of us, Tony. You and I both know it.”

Tony nodded his agreement.

He and Bruce worked for a while and got some decent data to analyze. There was definitely some of the mysterious mineral in the mountainous caves of Afghanistan so that had to be how they were holding Steve. He must be in the same cave where they’d caught him. 

*

Midas liked looking at his prize. He came in several times that first afternoon and stood staring at Steve. Steve just stared right back. 

“Captain Rogers, my Giulietta has always loved variety. Perhaps I shall keep you to be her pet when she returns to me. You are much better than skinny little Stark.”

Steve just started and didn’t speak a word. 

“Are you one of Stark’s lovers, too? I have heard that he likes a bit of rough now and again.”

He still said nothing. 

As Midas turned to leave, he said to Steve, “I expect they will be contacting us soon to bargain for you.” 

And he was gone.

*

“We think Steve’s still in the cave where he was taken. I think they have him bound in vibranium and they may not know how to move him without him getting away from them,” Bruce said at the meeting he and Tony called. 

“So we go after him?” Natasha asked. 

“We didn’t do so well the last time we went there,” Bruce reminded her.

“We didn’t have Iron Man. Will we have him this time?” Natasha asked, boring holes through Tony with her eyes. 

Tony shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I hope so, but right now, I can’t say.”

“Do we at least know where Thor might be?” she asked. 

“Jane. I think he went to see Jane when he left last time. I’ll call her,” Bruce said. 

He rang Jane and left her a message.

After the others left, Tony looked at Bruce. “I don’t know if I can do this. I shake all over when I think of putting the suit on.”

Bruce looked at him a moment and finally said, “I feel that way all the time, Tony, because I have no control when it will happen to me.”

*

Steve was alone. None of his captor’s minions were about. They seemed to be rather afraid of him. Good press on super abilities was a good thing, he supposed. They were too scared to attempt to torture him. 

He had time to think. There was little else to do since there wasn’t even a chair in his cell. He wondered how Tony was faring. He knew his teammates well enough to know that Natasha would be angry with Stark. Perhaps if Iron Man had come with them, this wouldn’t have happened. He was sure the trap was set for Tony instead of him anyway. 

He couldn’t figure out how Giulietta Nefaria had garnered such devotion in the men she’d been with. Even Stark spoke fondly of her after she’d kidnapped him. He’d never encountered a lover who’d made him give up all he cared about just to get in their pants. 

His thoughts kept going back to Tony. 

Were his feelings for Stark friendship, more than that? Were they love?

He decided to look at them objectively. He surely had the time to do so. 

He had liked and disliked Stark from the beginning. He’d found him a lot like Howard, but with more bravado and less real self-assurance. Howard had known his own value. Tony didn’t seem to really understand that his true value wasn’t in the brilliance, but in the oddly stubborn streak of true goodness that ran through him. Tony believed in doing what was right, though he’d rather no one know that fact about him. 

Did he love Stark? If he boiled it all down to the bare bones, then yes, he did love him. 

That was where things got complicated in his mind. He’d tried not to want Stark. Though most of his experiences had been with women, he had been with men, too. He liked men. He always had. He’d liked the touches in the dark of his fellow soldiers in WWII and he loved the kisses and touches from Bucky when he’d finally gotten him back from the Germans. 

He did want Stark. He had known it on some level since the moment they met and sparks flew every time they spoke. He knew that he was lost when he held Tony’s hand after the got him back. He’d been too fragile for Steve to act on his desire, but it had been there and he was almost sure that Tony felt it, too. 

Well, if he ever got out of here, he’d tell Tony. Let Tony decide what they’d do about it. 

Now what was he going to think about? 

He need not have worried. 

Midas decided that was a good time to have some of the Maggia men put vibranium chains on Steve so they could move him to another location. 

Steve watched curiously as Midas unlocked the door. The men carried several chains and electric cattle prods. They might be in for a surprise, Steve thought as the men approached him. He was standing against the back wall and he didn’t move a muscle as they entered. 

“We will be moving you to another location. I’m afraid you will be too easy to find here,” Midas explained. 

Did they think vibranium was like kryptonite to Superman? It wasn’t like it hurt him. He simply couldn’t break it. Let them come, he thought. 

They moved toward him with the cattle prods. Three of them popped him. Oh hell, it hurt but still, it wasn’t anything he couldn’t stand. He wondered why they didn’t have guns. Not that he was complaining. 

“It will be easier if you give in,” Midas said.

“Not for me,” Steve said as he put the three captors on the floor with a few well-placed punches. Midas didn’t make a move to either get the men out of the cell or to take on Steve himself. That he was scared to try was quite clear. He didn’t even send anyone to retrieve the men. When they came around, they exited the cell and locked the door behind them. 

Steve sat back down on the floor to wait. 

*

The Avengers were waiting to hear from Thor and to find out if Iron Man was still a member of their group or if he was well and truly gone. 

Natasha was getting impatient, tired of Stark’s dilly dallying. They needed to get Steve back before Midas did something to him. Steve was stubborn enough to push Midas as far as he could. Because he _was_ a super soldier, he sometimes forgot the part about him still being mortal. She didn’t trust many people, but she did trust Steve so she meant to get him back.

“He’ll be all right,” Clint said as he worked on his bow. “I don’t think Midas and Nefaria are either one brave or stupid enough to kill him. They’re criminals and the Maggia likes money and making it through crime. Midas is looking to gain something from this, so he won’t hurt Steve any more than Cap can take.” 

“I’m not sure I’m comforted,” she told him with a small smile. “Your bedside manner is lacking.”

“That’s why I shoot things with arrows. It’s much simpler and gets the point across.”

In another part of the building, Tony Stark stared at his Iron Man suit. Could he put the damned thing back on to save Cap? 

He’d been shocked by how kind Steve had been when he’d come home after his ordeal. What did it mean? Was he reading more into it than was actually there? He simply wasn’t sure. 

He was sure that he felt something for Cap. 

He didn’t hear Bruce walk up behind him. “He needs you, man.”

Tony was startled and turned around. “Don’t sneak up on a guy.”

“I’ve been standing here at least three minutes. You were staring at the suit, lost in thought.” ‘

“I still am trying to talk myself into putting it on.” 

“He needs us. He’s there when we need him.”

“He’s still in the cave, I think. According to the satellite data I have, nothing has moved in and out that cave for at least the last 24 hours. I’d say they can’t figure out what to do with him, but that doesn’t mean they won’t.”

“So when do we go?” 

“We go there in cover of darkness, late night, early morning their time.” 

“Is Iron Man going?” 

“That’s always the question, isn’t it?”

“Only you can answer it, Tony.”

Bruce patted him on the shoulder and walked away, leaving Tony to his own thoughts. Tony stepped closer to his suit and touched it. The metal was cool to his touch. He couldn’t hide forever, could he? It wouldn’t be the first time he’d done something even though he was scared shitless, would it? 

He called Rhodey. “Want to go with us to get Rogers?” 

“Where is he?” 

He told Rhodes about the mission and what happened. 

“You ready to do that?” 

“I have to be. He needs me.” 

Rhodey didn’t say anything for a moment then repeated what Tony had said. “He needs you?”

“Yeah. He does. He’s the guy who’d lay on a wire to save his friends, remember?” Tony said it sarcastically, but both he and Rhodes knew he meant it. 

“Yeah, I’ll go. When is the mission and who are we going up against?”

“We’re going in the next 8 hours. Come up here and you can travel with me.” 

Rhodes agreed and hung up to get ready. He’d have to make some excuses and tell a lie or two, but he’d been by Stark’s side since MIT and he wasn’t about to abandon him now. He’d think about Tony’s comments about Rogers later. 

“It’s about fucking time!” Clint said when Tony called them all together and told them they were going to retrieve Steve and round up the bad guys. 

Natasha shrugged. “We were going with or without you anyway,” she told Tony, “but Iron Man will definitely be an asset.”

Tony still had not put on the suit. 

As time approached to go, he went to the workshop and stared at his latest model. This one was his best yet. And it was tested and debugged already. He was concentrating so hard that he didn’t hear Rhodes. 

“Suit up!” Rhodes told him. He was already in his suit. War Machine. 

Tony took a deep breath and did just that. It felt good. Right. Why had he been so scared? 

They left at exactly the time he told Rhodes that they would go. 

They were going to rescue Steve Rogers and he’d figure out the rest later. 

*

Midas knew they had to move Captain America, but he still had no idea how they were going to do so. No one could get near him. Or no one would, in any case. Both Nefaria and his men and the Afghans had all heard of him and seen him in action. He could take them all apart with his bare hands. 

Midas didn’t want to harm Rogers, because if he did, he would never have any chance to get Giulietta back. He needed something to bargain with and Rogers was it. 

“Captain Rogers, we need to move you to another location and we would be most appreciative if you made it easy on us. We don’t want to hurt you, but we will if we must.”

Steve smiled at Midas. “Why would I do that?”

“You don’t want them harmed, do you?”

Steve didn’t like the threat, but he wouldn’t be bullied either. “I think my friends can take care themselves.” He knew they’d come in hotter and better prepared than they had before. 

“They didn’t do so well the last time.” 

“But Nefaria was in charge then. We have her in jail, don’t we?” Steve asked Midas. 

“Don’t you think Stark will be scared to be back in the caves here?” 

Steve thought Stark could possibly be frightened to come back here, but he said, “Stark is the bravest man I know. He went into space in his Iron Man suit to save New York. He’s willing to do what needs doing.”

“So you’re going to make us fight them?” 

“That’s your choice, not mine. I told a man over seventy years ago that I didn’t like bullies and I still don’t, so if you really think you can bully me into anything, have at it.” 

Midas nodded and several henchmen came into the room. He unlocked the cell door and they all looked at him, alarmed. He nodded toward the cell. The first one stepped in and raised his gun. With lightning fast reflexes, Steve grabbed the gun and took it from the man and shoved him to the side. He pointed the gun at Midas.

“Shoot him!” Midas shouted, but the others were already beating a retreat down the hall. He slammed the cell door shut again and backed away. 

“Just because I don’t _want_ to shoot you, doesn’t mean I won’t, Midas.”

“Then who will get you out of the cell?” He was referring the cell being made of vibranium.

“Stark will. He’s smart that way.” 

“He’ll never get this far. We’ll leave you in here to starve.” Midas was being childish now and he knew it, but there was little else to do. All he had left were empty threats. Steve Rogers was a much more formidable enemy than most of the people he’d ever come up against. The man certainly had no fear whatsoever. 

He turned and went down the hall in the direction his men had gone. Steve felt a little sorry for them. But only a little. They’d apparently chosen a life of crime themselves. You roll the dice, you take your chances, he figured. 

*

The area around the cave where Steve was being held was guarded by the Afghan terrorist cell who’d bargained with Midas. Inside were all of Midas’ and Nefaria’s men. The ones inside were expecting an attack from the Avengers, but they had not bothered to inform their partners on the outside. 

The Afghans were caught unaware when the Quinjet landed silently and invisibly. There were Jeeps and even a few horses for the team. Fury and Hill came along with Rumlow and the STRIKE team. These men made the Navy Seals look like rank amateurs. 

They had several miles to travel to the caves. 

“Rhodey and I will fly ahead and scout out the area,” Iron Man said, after they all disembarked and stood in their staging area. 

Fury spoke next, making it clear that he was running things in Rogers’ absence.

“Barton and Romanov, you take the horses and get to the caves and find a way in if you can. Rumlow, your team is going to have to neutralize the Afghans on the outside. Try not to kill them all. We probably need to try to get a little intel about their group, so save us one or two. I don’t think Midas is going to be as much of a problem as Nefaria was. Hill, myself and Banner will follow you two,” he nodded at Clint and Natasha. “Stark, you come inside, and Rhodes, you help outside.”

They were ready and each group set out. 

No one heard them coming. 

The Afghans fought well and fiercely and they were quite well armed, much of it old Stark technology, no doubt. It was a standoff for quite a while.

“I’m going to go behind them, get a better look at their numbers,” Rhodes told them on his com. 

“Be careful,” Hill told him as he flew between the Afghans and the small group of caves in the side of the mountain. 

“I have what appears to be their command post in sight.”

“Go for it,” Fury ordered and he did. 

He used the cannon in his right gauntlet and blasted the entire command group. There wasn’t even one straggler left as the dust settled. 

Rumlow reported, “They just heard the guns. They’re not getting any word from the command center. We’re going in. They are sitting ducks.”

The STRIKE team rushed the rest of the Afghans. 

“Remember to take a couple of prisoners!” Rumlow reminded them. “Fury wants to talk to them.” 

“Nope, that’s my job,” Maria said.

There were several minutes of nothing but shouting and gunfire then all went eerily quiet outside the caves. 

On the inside, Midas had been talking with the Afghan leader when they were hit. His com went silent all at once. 

“Find out what is going on outside!” he shouted to anyone within the sound of his voice. 

His men scrambled toward the front of the cave only to be met by the angry and well-armed friends of Steve Rogers. Iron Man flew in front of them and landed between Midas’ men and the Avengers. 

“Where is Rogers?” he asked.

The soldier laid his gun down and backed up against the cave wall. 

Iron Man lifted him up and looked into his face. “I asked you a question.” 

The man was shaking too much to speak. He finally nodded toward the back of the cave, where walls had been put up and lights installed to make it more like a building than a cave. 

Stark threw him to the floor and marched in the direction he’d indicated. The rest followed, weapons ready. Clint and Natasha veered off down one hall while Hill and Fury headed down the other. Banner was behind Iron Man, carrying a gun and hoping that the other guy didn’t show his face today. He still didn’t want to Hulk out in a cave. 

“You okay, Banner?” Stark said over his shoulder.

“Peachy. In a cave in Afghanistan. Just peachy.” 

“We’re okay. Just hang on.” 

“Easy for you to say,” Banner quipped back, probably a little more seriously than he’d meant for it to sound. 

They walked straight to the end of the cave. Tony ripped the door to the room off its hinges and tossed it to the side. 

“Hi ya, Stark,” Steve Rogers greeted him in his best Brooklyn accent, something Tony had never heard before. 

“Looks like you’re in the zoo, Rogers.” 

“Yeah, I’m the freak of the day.” 

“Let’s get you out of there. You’re our freak, not Mordecai Midas’.” 

“This little cell is vibranium. They wanted to move me,” Steve paused and held up his weapon, “but I kinda scared them too much. Midas couldn’t get anyone to come in the cell after I tossed the first few to the floor.” 

Stark laughed, but it was tinged with bitterness. “I’m just glad you’re impervious to drugs. I’d hate for you to have gone through what I did.” 

Steve nodded. 

“I do happen to have a handy attachment to cut the bars.”

“Find Midas. He’s still here. Make him unlock it. He has to be good for something.” 

“I like that idea.” 

Tony went in search of Midas. Steve saw the others herding their captives out of the various hallways in the cave. All were handcuffed as they were marched out. 

Natasha said something to Barton and came toward Steve. 

“Stark decide he liked you behind bars?” She grinned and raised an eyebrow. “Always figured he was a little kinky.”

Steve laughed, a little uncomfortable at her implication. “Going to make Midas unlock the cell.”

“He put on the suit to rescue you, you know,” she said.

“Yeah, I guessed.” 

“He might act like he doesn’t care, but he does. Remember that when we get home. I better go help Barton. He’ll shoot them all full of arrows.”

Tony was back in a few moments with Bruce and Midas. 

“Why should I let him out? You still have my Giulietta behind bars.”

“Your Giulietta is a felon. She belongs behind bars,” Tony told him. “Don’t you know she’s dangerous?”

“You caused that by turning her away. You made her crash her car and disfigure her face. I spent millions to make a mask not even half as beautiful as she is.”

“Unlock Rogers. Maybe they’ll put the two of you in a cell together.”

After a few more empty threats and some more grumbling, Midas unlocked Steve’s cell and he came out. 

Within minutes, they were on the Quinjet, headed home. Fury, Hill and Rumlow’s team would do cleanup there on site and then take their Afghan prisoners to one of the US military installations in the area. The Maggia members would be brought back to the US.

“Thanks, guys, Stark. They were debating shooting me, but all of Midas’ men were too scared to come into the cell. I took the gun from Midas.”

“Nothing to it,” Stark said, acting quite nonchalant. 

Steve knew better, but didn’t say anything.

Several hours later, they all met in the conference room to debrief while the mission was still fresh. 

“Thanks again, guys. I wasn’t scared of them but they were getting more scared of me by the minute and more dangerous,” Steve told them. 

Tony slipped in the door as Steve finished his sentence, coffee in hand. He smiled at Tony. “And thanks, Iron Man.”

Tony just shrugged and sat down. 

After the debriefing, everyone headed for their own quarters, all dying for a shower and something to eat. 

*

Steve thought about asking Tony if he wanted to come by for some takeout, but he didn’t. Tony didn’t seem all that glad to see him, actually. Maybe he’d read the whole thing wrong.

*

Tony was pacing in his suite. He’d wanted to throw his arms around Steve and kiss him when he found him unharmed, but he was afraid that he’d be rejected. So he did what he always did when he was unsure. He played it cool, acting like he really didn’t care much about Steve.

*

“What’s with Rogers and Stark?” Barton asked Natasha. 

“They’re in love.” 

“You sure? I don’t think they’ve spoken two words since we got Cap back.”

“I am very sure.” 

“Do they know they’re in love?” 

She smiled and shook her head. “Nope. They don’t seem to.” 

“Do we need to tell them? I’m not Cupid but I do have arrows.”

“They’ll figure it out.”

“If you say so.” 

*

Stark was having a nightmare, an awful one. He was back in Afghanistan and his chest was hurting. The big hole was going to kill him if he didn’t get it fixed. He finally woke up and realized his chest was hurting. Badly.

“JARVIS? Call an ambulance. I think I’m having a heart attack.” 

JARVIS didn’t even answer. He called the ambulance and called Steve Rogers. 

“Captain Rogers?” The voice woke him immediately. 

“Yeah?”

“Sir is having chest pain and an ambulance is coming.”

“Unlock his door. I’m headed there now. Tell Bruce. He has medical training.” 

Steve pulled his jeans on and ran to Tony’s room. He rushed in the door to find Tony in the floor. He was breathing but he was unconscious. Bruce came in only seconds after Steve, he checked Tony’s vitals. 

“He’s breathing, but his heart is beating a little irregularly. Let’s not move him. Bring a pillow and blanket until the EMT’s arrive.”

“Why don’t we take him to the medical wing?”

“If it’s his heart, he needs a hospital,” Bruce told him. 

When the EMTs arrived, they put him on a gurney and wheeled him out. Steve followed. 

“Sir, are you a relative?” 

“No.”

“Then I’m afraid you -”

“I’m Captain America and that’s Iron Man. I’m going.” Natasha handed Steve a shirt and his shoes. She’d gone by his apartment and gotten them for him. 

The ranking EMT nodded and Steve got in the ambulance and rode with them. He held Tony’s hand until they got to the hospital. 

Once inside, the doctor who met them told Steve, “Sir, you need to stay out here. We know what we’re doing. We’ll take good care of Mr. Stark.”

Steve nodded and sat down in the ER waiting area. The rest of the team arrived all together in a few minutes. 

Natasha sat by Steve. She patted him on the shoulder. “He’ll be fine. He’s too much of an ass not to be.” 

Steve’s smile was wan, but it was a smile.

It was not more than an hour until the doctor came out. They all rose as one and approached him. 

“Any family?” 

“We are his family,” Steve said. 

The doctor started to argue, but then nodded. “He has an arrhythmia. It isn’t surprising, considering what is attached to his chest and all that shrapnel still there. Stress might be a factor, too. It’s not as serious as it sounds, thought he does need regular checks by a cardiologist. We’ll treat it with drugs for now and see what happens.” 

They all saw the relief on Steve’s face. 

“One or two of you can go in. He’s conscious and alert.” The doctor turned to leave and turned back. “And quite pissy, too, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.” 

Steve smiled at the young physician. “Thanks, doc. We’re all used to his - pissiness.” 

Steve and Natasha went in. Tony was dressed in a hospital gown. He had heart monitors hooked up to him, but no IVs or other medical stuff. 

“Ah, Cap and the Widow. Come to yell at me?” 

Steve did something he certainly hadn’t planned on doing. He stepped up to the bed, leaned down, and kissed Stark’s cheek. “I’m so glad you’re all right.”

Tony blushed, something no one had ever seen before. 

“Me, too,” Natasha said, “But I’m not gonna kiss you.” She touched his shoulder and left them alone. 

“The doctor said I can go back home after a few hours, if I call tomorrow for an appointment.” 

“I’ll stay with you. Happy can come drive us home.”

“Isn’t he driving Pepper?” 

“He flew back. He’ll be here in the limo in a bit. Bruce is calling Pepper now.”

Tony lay back and closed his eyes. “Sorry about all,” he waved his arm around, “this.” 

“Stuff happens. Not a problem.”

Tony reached for Steve’s hand and squeezed it, then didn’t let go. Steve wanted to kiss him again, but he decided to see what Tony did. 

“Sleepover when we get home? I’m a little hesitant to stay alone for a night or two,” Tony asked. 

Steve nodded, ignoring the fact that his heart was speeding up just a bit at the thought. 

Happy picked them both up at about 2am. They went straight home and to Tony’s suite. Steve walked with him into the suite. He fully intended to sleep on the sofa 

“Got any spare pillows and blankets?” he asked Tony. 

Tony had other ideas.

“My bed’s a king. You can sleep there. I’m too tired to make a blanket fort though. Maybe another night.” Tony motioned him to follow and went into this bedroom. 

Tony stripped down to his boxers and got in the bed. He patted the other side. “I won’t bite. I probably snore, but doesn’t everyone?”

Steve stripped down to his underwear as well. He slipped in and pulled the cover over himself. 

“Thanks for staying, Cap.” Tony turned out the light and in a few moments, reached for Steve’s hand. Neither of them said a single word. Steve simply took the proffered hand and soon, they both were asleep. 

Tony was up and fiddling with his tablet when Steve woke. It was still dark outside, but then it usually was when Steve got up. Central Park was only a mile away and he usually ran just as the sun was rising. 

“Morning, Cap,” Tony said over his shoulder. “There’s coffee and some juice of some kind in the fridge. I usually grab a bit at the dining room, so there’s not much to eat here. Probably something moldy. Or stinky,” he said with a smile. 

“I just need some juice. I’ll eat after my run. Need anything before I go?” 

“Nope. I’m working on some suit upgrades and then going to work on yours a little. Ping me when you get back and I’ll meet you at the dining room.”

“Sure thing,” he said as he left, going to his own room to change into his running clothes. “Don’t you need to be resting?”

“I’ll rest when I’m dead. The doc said I need less stress. Doing this calms me.”

Steve nodded.

The only thing that he thought about the whole run was Stark. Did Stark know that Steve was attracted to him? Did he feel anything for Steve? Tony seemed rather attached but he didn’t know how much of that was still fear and anxiety from his ordeal. 

When he was in that cage, Steve had promised himself that he was going to tell Tony how he felt. It seemed easier then than it was now. 

When he got right down to it, he was scared that Tony would turn him down. 

When he got back, he thought about Tony while he was showering, finally giving specific thought to being with Stark, to having sex with him. He simply had never allowed himself the luxury of thinking about such things. 

Until now. 

Maybe he really did need to talk to Tony. 

*

Pepper came breezing in to check on Tony and pronounced that he needed to get away from all the stress of being an Avenger. She had rented a place in upstate New York and was taking him there to spend a few weeks. 

Tony was not down with this at all.

Since Pepper was running SI, all he really had to do was sign a few papers now and again and be an Avenger. He enjoyed having a place to work and people around him who he trusted and who trusted him. His run-ins with Stane and Hammer had proved that the corporate world was much more hazardous than being a superhero. 

“I don’t think I will go with you, Pep.” He didn’t usually argue with her. He usually sneaked around and did as he pleased then let her yell at him over it. 

“I think you should.”

“Do I look like a man who’d be happy puttering around by a lake, raising alpacas or something?”

“It’s better than having old girlfriends trying to kill you.” 

He looked at her a minute and laughed out loud. “Is it? Do you think I’d die of boredom?” 

“I think we can find something to do.” She smiled at him in that soft way she had, the way that made him nervous. He really liked her a lot, but he didn’t love her in the way she wanted. 

Yet. 

And he wasn’t sure he ever would. 

He’d had his mind on Rogers a lot lately and he was reluctant to leave without finding out if there was something real there. Cap had come close to flirting with him once or twice since they’d gotten him back from Midas.

And he was still sleeping over most nights. They never kissed or touched other than to hold hands sometimes. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. Some mornings, Tony woke with Steve wrapped around him and he liked it. Usually he’d go ahead and get up, not sure if Steve even knew it happened.

“We’ll talk about it later,” he finally told Pepper, though he was sure that wasn’t the end to it. 

*

“I heard she’s taking him upstate,” Natasha said to Steve as he spotted for her as she lifted weights. 

Steve hoped the panic he felt didn’t show.

“Tell him, you moron. Ask him on a date. Ask him to fuck! Tell him before Miss Potts convinces him he’s in love with her.” 

He gaped at her, surprised at how much she knew. 

“Besides, you’re already spending most nights with him. Can’t be that hard to tell him.”

“I – we – that is, we aren’t, um, we don’t, we just -”

Natasha laughed and sat up on the bench, done with her lifting for now. “You should! It’s all over your face, Steve. His, too. You stay with him at night! Try kissing him or hugging him! I’m pretty sure he’d say yes.”

*

Steve chose to be valiant and let Pepper take Tony to the mountains to ‘rest’. It sounded as if he were an old man, ready for the nursing home. He promised he’d come back if they needed him, though Pepper looked pretty certain he wasn’t coming back.

Nick Fury was angry when he found out that Stark had flown the coop. He was angry, but he could make do with Cap and the others. He was pretty sure he or Hill could get Stark back if they really needed him. 

Natasha was just pissed. At Pepper. At Stark. But mostly at Steve for letting him go. 

*

The Maggia was down but not out. There were competent lieutenants to run it while Giulietta was in prison. They were trying to edge some of the South American cartels out of the drug business on the east coast of the US. It was about to get dirty as the Maggia had designs on a shipment coming into New York on a freighter of machine parts from South America. The ship also carried freight not on the manifest, namely heroin, almost a ton of it. 

ATF and the DEA were watching, tracking the ship they suspected the contraband to be on, but both sides were so heavily armed that they worried about collateral damage to New York and its citizens if a gun battle broke out on the docks between the two powerful criminal organizations. 

The ship would arrive the day after tomorrow. 

Homeland had called SHIELD and Fury had called the Avengers. 

“Tony is still in hiding,” Steve told Fury when he called.

“You need to call and have him tell his mommy that we need him to come play with us on this one. And I want Rhodes, too.”

“I’ll call him, but I can’t force him to come.” 

“He’ll come. He’s as addicted to do-gooding as you are, Cap.” 

“If you say so.”

After he got off the phone with Fury, he called Tony. 

Tony answered, “You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark. Oh hi, Cap. What’s up?” 

Steve explained it all to Stark.

“Not sure Mommy will let me play.”

“We need you.”

“I’ll talk to Pepper.”

Steve didn’t know what else to say. What was there _to_ say to that? 

He conveyed the message to Fury and to the other Avengers. 

“He’ll come. He likes being Iron Man too much not to,” Natasha told Steve. She leaned close and whispered, “If you don’t talk to him this time, I will.” 

They got suited up and ready when the word came from Fury that it was time. They didn’t need the Quinjet for transportation but its weapons array might come in handy. Rhodes flew in quietly in his War Machine suit. 

None of them knew how this was going to go without Stark. 

The ship had docked and they expected the Maggia to pose as longshoremen. 

Which is exactly what they did. 

Several of the gangsters slipped onto the freighter and found the captain, taking him hostage then they began to remove the Cartel security one by one. In the meantime, the fake longshoremen began to move the freight off of the ship and into a warehouse they had commandeered just for that purpose. 

The Avengers were closing in on the drugs shipment, when Steve saw something red and gold. 

Tony! 

“Welcome to the party, Iron Man!” 

“Point me in a direction, Cap,” Tony answered.

They divided up. Tony, Banner, Barton went to the warehouse to round up the Maggia waiting there while Steve, Rhodes and Natasha hit the freighter. They were fairly well matched by the criminals except for Iron Man and War Machine. Their firepower made it quicker to take both sides down. 

The DEA, ATF and Homeland as well as the NYPD had scrambled teams as well. 

It was all over in about half an hour and all was left was the mopping up. There weren’t many casualties among law enforcement and no fatalities. The criminals lost three men and had several injured as well. 

When the mopping up was well under way, the Avengers headed for the Quinjet. Tony was with them. He noticed blood on Steve’s right arm.

“Cap?” 

“It’s nothing. I’m okay.”

“Like hell!” Tony lifted him into his arms and flew him to Avengers Tower and all the way to their little sickbay. Once there, he yelled until a nurse came to see what the matter was. 

“Mr. Stark? I thought you were in the mountains.”

“I was. Get someone to tend this. Now!” 

Steve didn’t say anything. He might have been a supersoldier, but a gunshot wound hurt like hell and the bullet was still in there. He healed so damn fast that if they didn’t dig it out soon, they’d have to cut his arm open to remove it.

The nurse was back with a kit to get the bullet out and sew him up. She’d been a military nurse and had done this sort of things before. That was one reason she worked at Avengers Tower.

“Just get it out, ma’am,” Steve told her when she started to numb him. “I metabolize the numbing so fast that it doesn’t work.”

She nodded grimly and told Stark, “Hold onto him. This is going to hurt like hell. Mr. Stark, you’ll have to help me clean and dress it when I’m done, since you’re the only one here.”

Tony was still Iron Man and he kept the suit on so he’d have enough strength to hold Steve. He put his arms around Steve’s free arm and his body. 

“Do you need something to bite?” the nurse asked Steve. 

“Just do it.” 

She did. Steve hissed as she poked around the already healing bullet hole in his upper arm. He’d been hit by a simple small caliber bullet, so it came out relatively easy. But not painlessly. When the nurse, whose name was Betty, finally dropped the bullet into the pan, she was sweating as much as Steve was. She cleaned the wound with an antiseptic that burned like hell, too, but Tony didn’t let go. He held Steve tight, murmuring encouragement to him all the while. 

“Do you want me to stitch it or not?” Betty asked Steve. 

They all could see that the hole was smaller than it had been a few moments ago. 

“Can you just put some tape on it and a bandage?” Steve asked her. “I think I need to lie down for a few minutes.”

Tony caught him when he fainted. 

“Should I leave him here or can I take him to my place?” Tony asked Betty. 

“Take him with you. Let him rest a while, then clean him up and feed him and try to get plenty of liquid in him, too. He’s doing fine, Mr. Stark.” 

She sat down in the nearest chair and mopped the sweat from her brow as they left. She’d earned her paycheck today.

Tony carried Steve to his suite and put him on the sofa. He shed the Iron Man suit and hurried to find something to clean Steve. He and Nurse Betty had removed the top part of Steve’s suit to work on his arm. He didn’t think he could get the bottoms off without Steve’s help. 

He bathed Steve’s dirty, sweat streaked face, stifling the urge to kiss his cheek. Then he bathed his torso, taking care to be gentle, especially when it came time to wash his arms. 

“Tony? What happened?” Steve tried to sit up and Tony tried to ease him back down. 

“You’re fine. You kinda passed out after we got you patched up and bandaged so I brought you here to take care of you.”

“I’ll be okay in my place.” Steve started to get up. “I need a shower.”

“Nope. You’re staying right here. I’m going to pry the bottom part of your suit off, wash that half then put you in my bed and take care of you.” And proceeded to do just that, gently bathing Steve’s legs and feet. It did not escape his notice that a certain part of Steve’s anatomy seemed to being paying close attention to every touch. 

Tony handed Steve the washcloth after he’d rinsed and soaped it to wash the rest himself. 

“You can have the bed so I don’t bump your arm in my sleep,” Tony told him.

“Nope. I want you there, too.”

So they went to bed. Tony got on the side opposite Steve’s injured arm. Tony went to sleep fairly quickly, but the pain in his arm kept Steve up. He watched Tony sleep, thinking about touching his face, kissing him. Steve’s arm finally stopped hurting sometime in the wee small hours of the morning and he got some sleep. It was midmorning when he woke, sitting straight up in the bed. It took him a moment to remember where he was and why.

Tony was gone, to his workshop, Steve assumed. 

He slipped the bandage off and saw his arm was almost healed. The wound was closed under the tape and starting to fill in with new pink skin. By tomorrow, even the scar would be faint or possibly even gone.

He got up and got cleaned up, bathing in the sink with a washcloth. He could get a shower in a couple of hours. He realized how much he’d stayed here when he saw his old toothbrush from before. He brushed his teeth and did what he could with his hair. It sort of stuck up in places.

He made his way to the communal kitchen. He poured coffee from the pot that was always there and ready. They also had the fancy one cup makers, but he liked an old-fashioned cup of coffee. He grabbed a banana while he searched the fridge for something else to eat. 

He was intent in his search that he didn’t hear anyone come in.

“There you are!” It was Tony. 

“Finally woke up and I’m starving.”

“Let me fix you something.” 

“I’m okay. It’s almost healed.” 

“I’m glad you got some sleep. You were awake a long time,” Tony said. He seemed a little ill at ease.

“Is something wrong?” Steve asked. 

“No – I – uh – no.”

Steve laughed. “Really? What is it?” 

“You. It’s you. I was scared to death when you got shot. I – shit – I wanted to talk to you.” Tony had a habit of babbling sometimes, but this was more incoherent than usual. 

“About what?” 

Tony didn’t say anything. He moved closer to Steve and took the coffee cup out of his hand and set it on the cabinet. Careful of Steve’s wounded arm, he pulled Steve into his embrace and kissed Steve’s lips. The kiss was short and simple, lips touching lips, then he pulled back and looked into Steve’s eyes.

[](https://imgur.com/M3Ipgu8)

“I’ve wanted you to do that for a long time,” Steve said and kissed Tony this time. Tony wound his arms around Steve’s neck as Steve leaned his body into the kiss, until they were flush against one another. Then Steve let his tongue slip between Tony’s lips, tasting him then plunging in deeply. When he stopped for a moment, he said, “And that’s what I wanted to do for a long time.” 

“Mmmm,” was Tony’s answer. “Want to come back to my room?”

“Are you going to take advantage of me?” 

“Oh yes, I surely am.” Tony couldn’t seem to stop kissing him. 

“Then you can help me shower,” Steve answered with a grin.

“One of my favorite places to take advantage.”

Steve’s heart sped up and blood rushed to his cock at the thought of being naked with Stark in the shower. “Let’s stop wasting time then.” 

Ten minutes later, they were under the rainwater shower in Stark’s suite, bodies pressed together as they kissed. Tony turned the water down to a drip and pressed Steve against the shower wall. 

“I didn’t know I wanted this for a long time,” Tony told him as ran his hands down Steve’s water slickened sides. 

“I knew, but I tried to deny it. You’re the last thing I needed,” Steve answered before Stark began exploring with his mouth as well as his hands. After that, there weren’t many actual words that came out of either of them.

Pepper came by to pick up Stark to whisk him back to the mountains to rest. The sounds she heard left her no doubt what was happening in the bathroom. She quietly closed the door and left. 

She sent Tony a text, asking he might like to take Rogers up to the lake for some rest as well. 

When he read it two hours later, he laughed and asked Steve if he’d like a vacation. 

End

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Larry for beta reading for me.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Art for "A Midnight Hour Comes"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21563536) by [tishawish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tishawish/pseuds/tishawish)
  * [Art for A Midnight Hour Comes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21565285) by [BeenAsleepFor70Years](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeenAsleepFor70Years/pseuds/BeenAsleepFor70Years)




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